Sing For Me
by ConsistentlyInconsistent
Summary: After her confidence was crushed, Kagome and her younger brother move away from their abusive step-father and into their Grandpa's house. Having befriended members of a local band she begins to find her voice again and maybe even new love. [Under Revision]
1. A Vow

AN: Okay, so I think this is the second or third time that I've revised this, but damn it all…it's just not as good as I think it could be. This is of course the first fic I ever wrote and feel very sentimental towards it (even if it seems kind of weak in the beginning). I don't want this to be another crap-tastic high-school-angst-filled-hormone-driven-hook-up-fic. Three to four years after first coming up with this story, I've finally gotten the details worked out and just have to get everything on paper…or you know…word document. But before I even get to that I'm going to do some MAJOR EDITING to what I already have. Try to put the characters more 'in character' and whatnot. Revise the shitty parts and extend some chapters. I (as well as my writing style) have changed A LOT since I first posted this so I'm going to try to get it up to par with my current standards. So without further ado I present and hope you enjoy the new and improved version of 'Sing For Me.'

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Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own original characters (which I actually hate using but it's too late at this point…) and the swanky new laptop my daddy gave me after my last one with all my old documents crapped out on me!

Sing For Me

Chapter 1: A Vow

A small 'click' was heard as the lock to the front door tumbled and allowed entrance to the young woman seeking such. Kagome quietly opened the door to peer into the living room from the front entrance hall so as to make sure that everyone had already gone to bed. Once she was sure that all was quiet within the house, Kagome gently shut the door behind her and replaced the lock before removing her shoes and attempting to pad across the hardwood flooring of the house as quietly as possible. She was being careful because she was two hours past her curfew and very well aware of it. She had simply lost track of time while she was out with her friends at their favorite karaoke bar, Midtown. There had been a contest that night and she had come in first place winning a trophy and free karaoke for a month.

She had almost made it to the stairs and thought that she would actually be able to make it to her room without alerting the other inhabitants of the house when she saw a light in the hallway come on and recognized her mother's shadow stretching across the floor.

_'Crap!'_ Was the only thought that ran through her mind at the moment because she knew in that instant that she had been caught.

"Kagome? Are you just now getting home? Where have you been?" her mother's voice was laced with concern and worry for her oldest child and only daughter.

"Yeah, we kinda lost track of time, sorry Mom." And that was exactly it, she couldn't think of anything else to say since she hadn't really planned on getting caught and whenever she saw the concern in her mother's eyes she could never bring herself to lie to the older woman.

"Honey, is everything alright?" A deeper voice chimed in from the hallway as another shadow made its way towards the living room.

_'No, no, NO!'_ Kagome knew what was coming now. It was time for her dear old step-dad to butt-in and "settle the situation" as he liked to call it. _'Out of all of the men in Japan…in the WORLD…why did she have to choose him after Dad died?'_

"Kagome, are you late again? I thought we talked about this last week," the older man admonished while giving the teenage girl a stern look. Turning deceivingly gentle eyes to his wife, he spoke, "Honey, you can go back to bed. I'll talk to her and see if we can't get this tardiness worked out."

"Okay, I'll see you both in the morning then. Good-night Kagome, dear." Her mom said as she hugged her daughter, kissed her husband, and then turned around to go back to the bedroom she shared with her husband.

Once Kagome saw her mother shut the door to her room, Kagome started, "Look Mikaru, I know I'm late. Like I said we lost track of time and that's the truth. There was a karaoke contest at Midtown so I entered and even won first place, see?" she said holding up her trophy for the man to see. Maybe letting him know that it was an honest mistake would appease his temper—she doubted it would.

"Now listen to me you little bitch," Mikaru ground out as he stalked towards her and gripped the front of her shirt in a tight fist. "The only reason you aren't out of this house yet is because your mother actually loves you and that brat brother of yours; I personally don't like either of you. And of this about you staying out to sing in karaoke bars? Don't you know that karaoke is for people who think they can sing but can't? It's for all of the losers who can't face the reality that everyone else hears. All you're doing is making a fool of yourself in front of a bunch of people. Don't you think it's a little strange that if you're such a singer that you haven't gotten anywhere with it other than singing in clubs? Face facts, you're not anywhere near good enough and you never will be!"

"You bastard! Where do you get off telling me what I can and can't do?" At this point Kagome was in tears because she knew that her step-father had some good points. Why hadn't she gone anywhere with her singing? She had tried to send demo tapes to different companies but had never heard anything back from any of them. With her head down and eyes to the floor she whispered, "I hate you…" Then cloudy, slate-blue eyes met with hard brown ones as her voice became more resolute in her confession. "I think you're nothing but a cold-hearted imitation for a man and always will be!" Kagome yelled at the taller man who was still gripping her shirt as tears rolled freely down her cheeks. She honestly did hate him; she always had ever since the day her mother had brought him home. She didn't like yelling at people but he just always managed to push her to her breaking point. He had been trying to break her down for years…but this time, he might have actually done it. Singing was the one thing Kagome prided herself on the most, but now that her confidence had taken a major blow her dreams of becoming a professional were swiftly fading.

But all thoughts of her dream future, which were currently flying out the window, were cut short as the sound and feel of flesh on flesh resounded and her back met the floor. She wasn't completely surprised since this wasn't the first time that he had hit her or Souta; it had just shocked her a little because she had been in thought.

He had slapped her pretty hard this time and she could already feel that area of her face starting to swell as a bruise formed. Before she could get up or say a word he grabbed the front of her shirt again to lift her off of the ground only to backhand her. "How dare you even try to talk to me like that? You're nothing but a little girl who wants to play rock star and I'm the adult who pays for all of your worthless shit! If you ever speak to me like that again I WILL KILL YOU!! Do you understand me?!"

"Yeah, okay," Kagome mumbled. "Mind putting me down now…_sir_," she ground out the last word as though it left a horrible taste in her mouth at the mere utterance.

Kagome cringed as she hit the wall after being thrown harshly. Getting up, she glared at her step-father's retreating back as she limped up the stairs to go to the relative safety her room. On the way up she heard Souta's bedroom door open and by the time she got up to the top of the stairs she could see Souta sitting with his back against the wall outside her door waiting for her.

"Oh God, Kagome…wait and let me go get the first aid kit." Souta said as he ran to the bathroom.

Kagome went into her bedroom and set her trophy down on a shelf then decided to lie down on her bed and wait for her brother's return. "Souta," she said as she heard her brother enter her room and kneel down next to her bed, first-aid kit in hand. "We have to get out of here. You know it just as well as I do. If we stay here one of us is going to end up seriously injured one day or worse."

Souta was completely silent. He just moved to sit on the edge of the bed looking at Kagome's bruises as they got darker and more discolored. He knew his sister was right. She had already ended up in the hospital twice before. Their mother had almost left Mikaru after one of those times, but he had been able to talk her into staying by saying that Kagome had gotten worked up during an argument and tripped.

But Souta had no idea of where she thought they could possibly go. It was very unlikely that their mother would leave Mikaru at this point. Besides, it would be too hard for her to try and take care of two kids on her own. It was times like this that he missed his dad more than anything. He pulled an instant cold pack out of the first-aid kit and snapped the center disc to activate it. He listed to Kagome continue after giving her the pack to press against her face.

"Do you remember Grandpa? Dad's dad? I've been talking to him for a few weeks now. Don't tell Mom, she doesn't know about it. I told him everything about what's been going on. Even after Mom married Mikaru, Grandpa still looked out for us, checking in every now and then until Mikaru threatened to call the police for harassment. Grandpa never liked Mikaru. Gramps said that if we ever needed to we could go live with him on the family shrine in Tokyo. I've made plans with him to move in and I'm leaving tomorrow. I know that it's short notice, but I want you to come too. If I go I can't just leave you here."

Souta was shocked. He remembered Grandpa but just barely. He did remember that he had always been a little eccentric but loved them and their mom a lot. At first he just sat there but after Kagome sat up and he looked her in the eye's, one of which was currently forming a black and purple ring around it despite the swelling going down with the help of the cold pack, he knew his answer. Nodding his head, Souta hugged his sister and said, "Mom won't be there…but we'll have each other, right?"

"That's right," she reassured as she hugged him back. "I'll take care of you. Now then…tomorrow is Saturday so I'll wake you up early before Mom or Mikaru get up so you can finish packing. Try to get as much done as you can tonight with the luggage you have. You know my friend Hojo from school? Well he's going to help us pack then give us a ride to the train station in the morning. Grandpa will meet us tomorrow afternoon at the train station in Tokyo. We'll finally be out of this house. I love Mom and I'll miss her but I can't stay around that jerk anymore. Go get started and then get to bed, I'll be fine. We have a long day tomorrow."

After that had been said Souta went back to his room after telling Kagome good-night and Kagome sat in her room in silence. She had already packed the majority of her clothes and now she just needed the boxes that Hojo was bringing so that she could pack some of her other possessions.

Glancing at her bedside table, Kagome picked up a picture of her family before their life went to Hell. It was of her, her mom and dad, and Souta as a baby. They were all in front of the old tree at her grandfather's shrine. Everyone was smiling and having fun that day. "Dad, I wish you were still here. Why did you have leave us? Souta and I need you so much right now." With that said she lay down on her bed, picture clutched to her chest and cried herself to sleep. Maybe the next day would be the start of a new life for her and her brother. Maybe things could get back to being somewhat normal. Only two things would be majorly changed. Her mom and dad wouldn't be there and she wouldn't be singing anymore. After coming to a realization made by Mikaru that her singing wasn't taking her anywhere she silently vowed never to sing again.

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AN: Okay, so there was a lot of rephrasing here as well as a few added and removed things. Not as much cursing because...well, Kagome just doesn't really curse! That 'bastard' is probably the worst thing you'll hear from her for the remainder of the story. I hate it that I couldn't make this much longer than it was, but I don't particularly want to combine chapters one and two. For the record, Mikaru is based off of my step-dad and how he was years ago. We fought. A lot. But he never hit me; I want that to be clear. There was a good bit of emotional damage (hence mandatory therapy). He's actually the reason I took up writing as a way to express myself, so you can all actually thank him if you like what you read by me! He and I have since reconciled on a few issues and come to an understanding that while things will never be wonderful between us we're at least civil and try to have normal conversations despite us being horribly awkward around each other. After he retired he stopped drowning his stress in alcohol and things have been steadily getting better. I want to take a moment to dedicate this to the girls who have/had rocky relationships with their fathers/step-fathers and come out of it stronger =)


	2. Meetings & Swing Sets

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in this story (save for Mikaru), they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and the Viz Corporation. I'm make no money from this—I'm broke, don't sue.

Chapter 2: Meetings and Swing Sets

"Souta…Souta wake up." Kagome whispered.

"Hm? Five more minutes…" Souta mumbled rolling back over.

"No, you have to get up now. It's 6 o'clock and Mikaru and Mom get up at 8. Hojo's already here to help us pack and leave before they get up. He brought some boxes for us to use. Now get up, get dressed, start packing, and be quiet." Kagome got up and started walking back to her room but stopped in the doorway and turned back to Souta. "Oh, and Hojo is in my room helping me pack my stuff so if you need help or you get done come get one of us." With that she went back to her room.

As she walked into her room she saw three boxes on her floor, four suitcases on her bed and Hojo standing in front of her shelves where she kept her trophies. She had known Hojo since second grade and he had been one of her closest friends so naturally he knew about what went on with Mikaru and had been more than happy to help them get out of the house. He had been in love with her for years, more than just a friendship kind of love, but he knew that she would only ever love him with a sister's love and that was fine with him. "Hey, is this one new? I've haven't seen it before."

"Oh, yeah. I won that last night at Midtown."

"Hey Kagome, on the way to the train station will you sing for me one last time before you leave?"

Kagome stiffened. "No Hojo, I won't. I realized something last night. For me singing won't ever be anything more than a dream and I'm a senior this year. It's about time I start focusing on reality and a future that can really happen. I'm going to give up singing Hojo."

"What? How can you say that? You are the best I've ever heard Kagome, you can ask anyone and they'll tell you the same. Please don't give up Kagome; you'll get there one day."

"No, I've already made up my mind. I'm going to finish high school, go to college and get a real job, that's final."

Hojo was crushed; it was her voice that he had initially fallen in love with. But he knew when Kagome decided on something there was no convincing her. With a sigh Hojo asked "So I'm taking it you don't want to pack your trophies?"

"No, I want to take them. Even though I'm going to stop singing, those trophies have great memories attached." She said with a thoughtful look on her face as she picked up one of the many trophies that lined her walls. "Alright, enough talking; we need to get to work before they wake up." Kagome said as she settled the trophy she had picked up into a box.

The boxes were a pretty good size each so her trophies all fit into one and a half boxes if they laid them on their sides and put foam or newspaper between them. She filled the rest of the second box with pictures and jewelry boxes and other valuable or fragile things. She filled the third box with shoes, jackets, and sweaters. Three of her suitcases she filled with the remainder of her clothes and the fourth was filled with posters and other things she had on her walls.

By the time they had finished it was 7:15. Kagome went down the hall to check on Souta. He was just putting the last of his shirts in his last suitcase. "Are you ready?" Kagome asked.

"Yea, I think so."

"Ok, take your stuff to my room and we can move it down to Hojo's car. After that I'll write a note for Mom telling her where we went and why. Alright, let's go."

After figuring out how to fit all of their stuff into Hojo's car, which took about half an hour, Kagome told Souta to sit in the car and wait on her while she went back inside to write the note. Going back inside, she took one last look around. Sure, she'd miss her mom incredibly, but she couldn't stay anymore. She was tired of hiding bruises under make-up and lying to her friends about why she missed school or came in with the occasional sprain or broken bone.

Sitting down at their counter in the kitchen she started her note:

Mom,  
I'm sorry, but Souta and I have left. I couldn't stay here and be abused and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left Souta here by himself. We're staying with Grandpa in Tokyo. Don't worry, we'll be fine. Grandpa's already enrolled us in schools in Tokyo. I love you Mom but I can't stay around Mikaru. I really hope you understand and can forgive me. Please don't be mad at Souta, it's not his fault. You can come visit us but I'm not coming home. I'm finishing out my senior year in Tokyo then I can go out on my own and help take care of Souta. I love you Mom, Good-bye.

Love,  
Kagome

Crying, Kagome left the note on the counter along with a necklace that her mother had gotten her on her 17th birthday. It was a silver chain with two music note pendants hanging from it. The bigger one was silver and the smaller one was silver with onyx laid into it. It was her favorite necklace, but she wanted to leave something of hers for her mother.

It was 7:50 when Kagome got out to the car. "Kagome?!" As she opened the door she turned around and saw Shippo running down the sidewalk.

"Shippo what are you doing here?" she asked as he reached her and stopped panting from running. Shippo was a kitsune youkai who was about a year younger than Souta putting him at 10. He was one of the first youkai she had ever met and gotten to know; she'd even started baby-sitting him and Souta after school some days while their parents were at work. When she had first saw him she thought he was the most adorable thing she had ever seen with his auburn hair, bright green eyes, and fluffy tail. He was always following her around and asking her to sing for him.

"Mama was cooking breakfast and realized that we were out of eggs so I was on my way to get some from the store. Kagome, are you going somewhere?"

"Yes, Souta and I are going to Tokyo to live with our Grandpa." Kagome said choking on tears. She hated to leave him too, and since he looked like he was about to cry it didn't make this any easier.

Coming around the side of the car Hojo came up behind Kagome and cut in, "Don't worry about it. I'm going out to Tokyo next weekend to check on them. If it's ok with your mom I'll take you out there with me, ok?"

Sniffling, Shippo nodded his head and ran up to hug Kagome. "And you'll sing for me when I visit won't you?"

"No Shippo. I'm not singing anymore, I'm sorry."

"What? Why?"

"Listen Shippo, I've got to get Kagome and Souta to the train station, but I'll explain it to you when I get back alright?"

"Alright. Bye Kagome, I'll miss you." Shippo said on the verge of tears.

"Bye Shippo, I'll see you in a week. Let's go Hojo, Mom and Mikaru should be waking up soon."

It was 7:55 when Kagome got in the car and Hojo started towards the train station. Due to traffic it was 8:30 when they got to the station. After helping to get Kagome and Souta's stuff out of the car and on the train he gave Kagome one final hug. "Listen, you know that if you run into any kind of trouble you can always call me. I'm going to come visit you next Saturday to make sure everything's going ok."

"Thanks for everything Hojo. There's no way I could ever repay you for everything you've done to help." Kagome said still hugging Hojo. Pulling away she looked Hojo in the eye, smiled and walked toward the train.

"Kagome?"

"Yea Hojo?"

"Just be careful and take care."

"Okay, you too."

At the Taisho house in Tokyo

"Hey, Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha said from his brother's doorway.

"What in the hell are you doing in my room? Leave me alone." Sesshoumaru ordered from his bed where he was working on some song lyrics for a new song.

"Well then I guess you don't want to hear about the new girl..." Inuyasha said as he pushed off the doorway and turned to walk away.

"Wait, what new girl?"

"Miroku just called. He got caught with his headphones out in class again and had to go to the principle's office yesterday, while he was there that old, eccentric priest from the Higurashi Sunset Shrine called about enrolling his granddaughter who's a senior this year. We're going to have a miko on the grounds. Can you imagine how much of a goodie-goodie this girl is going to be? Hopefully she'll have been around demons before this and won't try to purify us."

"Well you shouldn't worry too much. There aren't many real miko's left, and those that are real don't have much power."

"What about Kikyo? She's a powerful miko."

"Kikyo isn't a miko, she's a witch. There's a difference and you need to learn to see that dear little brother."

"Yeah whatever, so what are we going to do about this new girl?"

"Tell Miroku and Sango not to do anything. We'll see what she's like and then decide."

"Fine, but you know that she's just going to be another pink loving, cheery, goodie-goodie, wanna-be miko."

"We'll see. And Inuyasha…?"

"Yeah?"

"Get the hell out of my room and leave me alone."

Kagome woke up when she felt the train shake due to slowing down, indicating that they were in Tokyo. She looked down to see that Souta had laid his head down in her lap and gone to sleep. "Souta, we're there…wake up." Kagome said softly running her hand through his hair.

"Really? That didn't take as long as I thought it would."

"That's because you fell asleep, dork."

"Oh…okay haha I guess that would make the trip shorter."

"Well let's get off this train, get our stuff, and see if we can find Grandpa."

Getting up, they walked to the front of the train together. When they got off they found a cart they could load all their stuff on and then went off to find their Grandpa.

"Kagome! Souta!"

Hearing their names they turned around to see an old man in shrine clothing waving his hands franticly. Sweat-dropping, Kagome waved back and said "Hey Gramps. It's good to see you again. I haven't actually seen you in a while."

"Well come on. I rented a moving truck for today to get all of your things to the shrine. We need to load them on the truck so we can go. I forgot to ask if they could send someone to help us move everything."

Sighing, Kagome rolled her eyes. 'Yep, same old Gramps. Some things just never change I guess.' Taking a deep breath, Kagome turned to Souta and said "Come on, we're going to need all the help we can get." So pushing the cart outside, they went up to the truck and lifted the door so they could start putting everything in the back. It was a lot easier to fit everything in there than in Hojo's car. After about ten minutes they were ready to go on to the shrine.

On the way Grandpa was talking about all the preparing he'd done to get everything ready for them. "You each have separate rooms, and I painted them the colors that you asked for Kagome." At hearing this Souta took in a deep breath thinking Kagome might have said to paint his room pink or something as a joke. "Kagome, your room is a deep red just like you said, and Souta, yours is forest green." Souta let out the breath that he had been holding and Kagome giggled and leaned over to whispered in his ear "Do you really think I'm that mean?"

"Honestly?…I wouldn't put it past you…"

"Why Souta…I'm hurt, truly I am…" she said putting her hand over her chest in mock hurt.

"Well, we're here. Souta you probably don't remember much about this shrine, but what about you Kagome? Does anything look familiar?"

"All those steps…that's a hard sight to ever forget, especially after walking up and down them." Kagome replied as she stared at the massive set of stairs leading up to their new home. "Well, I guess we should get to work on moving all our stuff up to the house"

With that they got out of the truck and got to work. After an hour and a half they had moved all the boxes and suitcases up to the house and sorted out whose stuff was whose. Kagome looked around her new room. Actually it wasn't her new room seeing as this had been her room here when she was little. Furniture was still in the same place, something she would probably change around later, and her bed still had the same pink and blue sheets, that would definitely have to change. She would go to the store later and get some new stuff to go in her room. She had been preparing for this day for a while and had saved up 500. Grandpa had said that he would pay for new things for Souta's room if it was needed.

Kagome unpacked all of her clothes and hung them in the closet; all of her pictures she put on her desk, dresser, and night stand; the jewelry boxes went on top of the dresser; and her trophies went on the shelves that Grandpa had put up for her. She decided to put her posters and things up later that night, but right now she wanted to go to the store and get some new sheets and things.

She went over to a corner of the room and pulled a sheet off of a free-standing full length mirror. Grandpa had said that it had been their Grandma's and he had put it in the attic for storage, but thought she might like it. He was right. She loved it. The bottom was about 3 or 4 inches off the ground and the mirror its self was about 5 feet and some odd inches tall, which was great because she was 5'6". It had a wooden frame made from a dark polished wood that looked like cherry.

Going over to her closet she looked for something to wear. It didn't have to be much just something she wouldn't mind being seen at the store in. "Aha, perfect." She pulled out a pair of baggy jeans that she had worn holes in at the pockets and a few places down the legs. Despite being baggy, they showed off her waist nicely. Reaching in one of her drawers in her dresser she pulled out a black sports bra and a black t-shirt that had silver letters on it reading 'Music is Medicine.' The shirt was tight and rode up around her stomach but it was fine and to be expected seeing as she bought this shirt a few years ago. Pulling on her black combat boots she walked over to the mirror and decided to just leave her black, waist-length hair down. Grabbing her black bag with the red dragon on it she stuffed her money in it and threw on some black eyeliner and shades of gray eye shadow before running down stairs.

"Hey Gramps, I'm going out to the store, I'll be back in a little bit. Does anybody else need anything while I'm out?"

"No dear, we're fine on everything. Be careful and don't get lost."

"I won't, I can probably still find my way around the neighborhood to that store a few blocks away. Well, bye!" With that she was out the door and making her way down the shrine steps. "He really needs to have an escalader put in, these steps are murder."

Walking down the street she noticed that a few things had changed but not much. There were a few new houses, which were very nice, but other than that almost everything was the same. She found the store easily enough and bought some black sheets with white roses on them and a red comforter that had black roses on it and a matching set of pillow cases. She also got a small CD player/alarm clock to go on her nightstand. After leaving the store she started on her way home and on the way spotted the park where she used to play when she was little. She couldn't help herself and headed over through the park and found the swings. Setting her bags down next to a nearby tree she sat down and began to swing.

At the Taisho house:

Sesshoumaru walked out of his room and made his way down stairs and to the front door. He was almost there when he heard someone behind him and grunted. "What is it?"

"Where are you going?" he heard Inuyasha ask.

"I'm going for a walk to get some fresh air. I'm tired of smelling you everywhere." And he walked out the door.

He walked down the street and through the entrance to the park. As he walked down a pathway he heard a creaking sound and knew someone was swinging 'Damn, I was hoping nobody would be here this late.' As he rounded a corner he saw the back of a girl appearing to be his age on the swings. Not thinking much of it he walked on past and just glanced over and caught a glance of her face. 'Kikyo…' he thought with distain. 'Wait, that's not Kikyo…the air doesn't smell of death. Who is this?' he thought as he turned around to watch the girl.

About the time he turned around he noticed that she was getting ready to jump out of the swing. He merely stood and watched to see if she could land on balance. She jumped and flew through the air, her hair waving behind her and hit the ground but her knee's buckled and she hit the ground and rolled a few times before she stopped and just laid there…and laid there…and laid there. It was then that Sesshoumaru knew that something was definitely wrong and decided to walk over to her and see if he should call an ambulance, kneeling down beside her.

With Kagome:

Everything was black. Slowly colors started to come back to her. The first she saw was a molten gold, then silver, then black. As everything started to clear up she realized that there was a person sitting next to her, and not just any person, but a demon…a very handsome demon. He was just staring at her, so she stared back. Taking a better look at him she could see the violet crescent moon on his forehead and the magenta stripes on his cheeks and wrists. He had incredibly long, smooth silver hair that he had pulled back into a ponytail. He was well built and was wearing a pair of black baggy pants and a black beater.

"Do you need medial attention?"

Kagome almost didn't register the question. "No, I'm fine." She said pushing him away and getting up. After dusting herself off she walked over to the tree where she had laid her things; once she had gotten everything she walked back to the demon, who was now standing his full height, 'Wow, he's a lot taller than I thought. He's probably somewhere around 6'2".' "Thank you for your concern now if you don't mind I'm going home." With that said she walked around him and to the entrance where she started making her way home.

Sesshoumaru was floored. It wasn't very often that he was dismissed, especially by a human, and a mere girl at that. He wasn't in the mood to chase after her so he turned and started on his way as well.

Upon getting home Inuyasha was sitting in the living room watching TV, so Sesshoumaru decided to go up to his room. "So, anything interesting happen on your little walk?" Sesshoumaru sighed when he heard Inuyasha's voice behind him.

'Why can't he ever manage to leave me along for two seconds?' "No, it was just a walk through the park; nothing special."

"Oh, alright. Well, it's getting late I'm going to go see when dinner's going to be ready."

With Inuyasha gone, Sesshoumaru was left to his thoughts. "Who was that girl?" he wondered as he once again picked up his paper and pen and started working on song lyrics.

AN: ta-da! I've been spending too much time on the computer (I stare at a screen all day at work then come home and read/write until I go to bed…) I've had to break out my reading glasses again due to stuff getting blurry. I know that 2 hours doesn't seem like a lot of time to pack and move stuff but trust me that with 3 people working on it, it CAN be done. –sigh- it's 2am and I have another 3 chapters to revise…but X-Files is on & damn it all if David Duchovny as Mulder doesn't just MAKE that show it went down hill after he left…


	3. A New Day, A New Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in this story (save for Mikaru), they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and the Viz Corporation. I'm make no money from this—I'm broke, don't sue.

Chapter 3: A New Day, A New Life

"Alright, alright everyone. It's 7 o'clock on a Monday morning….so get the hell up!" this was Kagome's new favorite radio station that she had found while unpacking her things, she especially loved the DJ, he was hilarious. "Well for those of you actually rolling out of bed, here's a song to start your day off."

Kagome walked into her room with one towel wrapped around her body and another wrapped around her head just as the song was starting. "An awesome song to start the day off; I can already tell this life is going to work."

Go ahead as you waste your days with thinking  
When you fall everyone stands  
Another day and you've had your fill of sinking  
With the life held in your  
Hands are shaking cold  
These hands are meant to hold

Standing in front of her mirror, Kagome took the towel off of her head, dropping it to the floor and started brushing her long, black hair. Once all the knots were out she grabbed a bottle of sports gel off her dresser and ran it through her hair and started crimping it while running a blow dryer over it. Satisfied that it was dry enough she closed her eyes and used some hair spray to ensure that it would stay all day.

Speak to me, when all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do  
And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through  
Move along  
Move along

Turning to her dresser she opened the top and pulled out a black, green, and white camo bra and matching panties, then walked over to the closet and looked through all her clothes. This was the first day at her new school and she wanted to make a lasting impression.

So a day when you've lost yourself completely  
Could be a night when your life ends  
Such a heart that will lead you to deceiving  
All the pain held in your  
Hands are shaking cold  
Your hands are mine to hold

"This is perfect." Kagome said. Listening to the song that was playing Kagome started getting dressed. She had picked out a pair of low-riding black pants that were tight around her waist but otherwise baggy. They had cargo pockets down the sides and four chains running from the front right pocket to the back pocket on the left side. Her shirt was an army green beater with black letters that said "My shirt is so ninja you think I'm naked" that showed off her figure perfectly.

Speak to me, when all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do  
And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through  
Move along

(Go on, go on, go on, go on)  
When everything is wrong we move along  
(Go on, go on, go on, go on)  
When everything is wrong, we move along  
Along, along, along

Looking through her jewelry, Kagome picked out a Celtic cross she kept on a chain and a few other necklaces and chokers. She put some black, leather bands on her wrists that had metal studs on them and a labyrinth ring on her thumb.

When all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do  
And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through  
(Move along)  
(Go on, go on, go on, go on)  
Right back what is wrong  
We move along

Just as the song ended Kagome pulled on her shin-high, lace-up black combat boots and put on some make-up to cover the bruises she was still sporting followed by her black eye liner and mascara along with some shades of grey eye shadow. Grabbing her house keys and some money, she stuffed everything that she would need into her red and black messenger bag and ran down stairs.

"Kagome! What ever happened to the days when you wore pink and blue all the time and acted like the miko you are?" Grandpa said as he saw her choice of clothing for the day.

"Good morning to you too Gramps, and those days haven't been around in quite a while. You know I haven't practiced my miko powers since I stopped coming to the shrine. Mikaru didn't like it so it became 'forbidden.' I don't know if I even have them anymore."

"Once a miko, always a miko. I'll start training you again if you want. I never liked that Mikaru person anyways. I'll never understand why your mother married him." He said with a sigh and a shake of his head.

"That makes two of us. I might pick up training again later, so I'll let you know."

"Alright…well the two of you need to be getting off to school. Why don't you walk Souta to his school and I'll call ahead to your school to let them know why you'll be late."

"Sounds like a plan, thanks again Gramps. I'll see you later. If I have any change in plans I'll call you!" Kagome yelled as she grabbed Souta by the hand and dragged him out the door. "Okay Souta, today marks the day of a new life for us. Everything's going to be much better from now on, I'm sure of it." Kagome said as they made their way across the shrine grounds. "But no matter what, I don't think I'll ever get used to these steps." Kagome said with a sigh as they started the long trek down the steps to the street below.

At Ookawa High School:

Pulling up to the school in his silver 2006 Eclipse, Sesshoumaru heard his cell phone ring. "What?" he said, flipping it open.

"You ASS-HOLE!! Why didn't you tell me you were leaving early?!"

"I didn't leave early, little brother, I left on time. You, however, were late and I wasn't going to wait."

"Whatever! I'll deal with you when I get to school…I have to run now, literally…damn it…"

Sesshoumaru could hear Inuyasha cursing at him as he hung up the phone. Getting out of the car, Sesshoumaru started up the steps to meet with Sango and Miroku in their usual spot. About the time he made it to the top of the stairs Inuyasha landed right beside him giving him a death glare. "Good morning, Inuyasha."

"Bastard."

"Why do you complain when I leave you if you can get here just as fast when you run?"

"Because I'm lazy and hate running." Inuyasha said pouting.

"Life's tough, so get a helmet Inuyasha. Your dad's loaded so don't give me that "I'm broke" crap." Sango said as she pushed herself up from where she was sitting. "Miroku got called into the station to do the morning DJ thing so I've been sitting out here by myself waiting on your slow asses to get here." Sango was probably the toughest girl in school. Nobody ever even tried to tease or mess with her because she always carried her field hockey stick strapped to her back. Right now she had her field hockey stick, cleats, shin guards, and her roller blades that she used to get around.

"Hey Sango, I'm assuming that Miroku told you about the new girl over the phone too?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yeah…the last thing this school needs is another preppy girl. We still on for practice at your house Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes, Father won't be home until late and Izayoi doesn't care. Miroku will be there this time, right?"

"Yeah, he had a party to DJ last time but he's free this afternoon. He should be back from the station sometime in 2nd block then he'll walk over to your house with me after school." Just as the words left Sango's mouth the bell rang and all the students outside started walking inside.

"Damn, I don't want to go to class. I have an Advanced Physics test today in 1st block! Why does Dad make us take all these damn advanced classes?" Inuyasha asked with a sigh.

"They're only hard because you never crack a book and sleep in class." Sesshoumaru said reaching his locker and getting out and Applied World History book.

"Says the genius with an IQ of what? 2 million?" Inuyasha joked.

"No…148…and I know that, despite being a hanyou, you could probably do as well in your classes if you would just take some notes every now and then."

"Leave me alone Sesshoumaru…"

"Why should I? You never give me a moment's peace at home, so I give you hell when we come to school. It seems like a fair trade to me, don't you think Sango?"

Laughing by this point Sango nodded her head and said "Yeah, close enough."

"Get to class Inuyasha. If you're late I'll give you detention again." Professor Keade said passing by.

Drooping his white ears against his head, Inuyasha flinched and said "Yeah, yeah…I know."

"You'd better get going Inuyasha, she doesn't kid around. And if you get detention it's seriously going to cut into our practice time." Sango reminded.

"FINE! I'm going already…damn physics…" Inuyasha grumbled stomping down the hall.

"So when do you think the new girl will get here Sesshoumaru?" Sango asked as they watched Inuyasha pitch his little fit.

"No clue. But don't do anything until we know a little more about her. She might not be a terrible person and I'm not going to break someone who I don't think deserves it."

"Alright, well I'll see you next block. Later!" Sango said as she waved and walked down the hall.

'Another Monday, another week closer to graduation' Sesshoumaru thought as he started down the hall to his first class of the day.

2 hours later:

Walking into their next class Sesshoumaru tried to avoid Kikyo, Sango sat down and laid her head down on the desk trying to catch a nap before class, and Inuyasha dragged himself into class and flopped into his seat in the back of the class where he, Sango, Sesshoumaru, and Miroku sat. "I definitely failed that Physics test."

"That's what you get for goofing off…" Sango said.

"Alright everyone, sit down and be quiet. Get out some paper so you can take some notes. Don't forget about you're test over the Substitution Property in Solving for Equations on Friday." said Professor Myoga. He was extremely annoying but probably one of the better teachers in the school.

In front of the school

"Crap…more steps. Does everything in Tokyo have steps leading up to it?!" Kagome was tired and ready to sit down after walking Souta to school and making sure he got his schedule and everything situated and then walking to her own new school. Walking up the steps and through the front doors she looked around for the main office and spotted it off to the side. She went up to the front desk and cleared her throat to get the secretary's attention.

"Yes?" the secretary answered with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Higurashi Kagome and this is my first day so I need a schedule and I need to check in. I'm late because I had to take my little brother to his new school too."

"Ah, yes. Your grandfather called and said something about that. Wait here and I'll go get your schedule, locker number and combination, and a map of the school."

As Kagome watched the woman walk away and down a hall she heard the door into the office open and turned around just out of curiosity. She was met with an odd sight. It was a boy, about her age maybe a little older she guessed, wearing black baggy pants, black Etnies, a bright green beater and a dark purple dress shirt over it, with a black bag hanging on his back and she could see the wire of a pair of headphones leading out of it to a set resting around his neck. He had black hair, which was pulled back into a short ponytail at the base of his neck, violet eyes, and was only slightly taller than she was.

When Miroku walked in the door to check in before going to class he saw one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen in his life, next to his beloved Sango of course. He walked up to the desk where she was standing and they just looked at each other for a minute before Miroku stuck out his hand said "Hi, names Miroku…ladies man and DJ extraordinaire."

"Kagome." She answered with a laugh as she reached out her hand to shake his.

"Here you are Miss Higurashi. Oh, hi Miroku. Checking in?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well get rid of those headphones before you get sent up here again."

"Ha ha, will do. Thanks."

"Anyway, when you go to your classes Miss Higurashi, you can pick up your books from your teachers."

"Okay, thanks. Bye."

Walking out of the office, with Miroku following, Kagome took a look at her schedule but stopped as her head shot up, eyes wide. Whirling around, she left a bright red hand print on Miroku's cheek. "Hentai! What in the hell are you doing?!"

"Sorry, but this hand of mine just has a mind of its own…" Miroku said chuckling and rubbing the back of his head innocently.

"Yeah, whatever…" Kagome said blushing.

"Let me see your schedule."

"What?"

"Let. Me. See. Your. Schedule."

Skeptically, Kagome handed the piece of paper over. "Hm…looks like we have our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes together. I think you have your first class with Sesshoumaru." Looking at the name at the top of the schedule Miroku's eye's widened as he recognized the last name. 'Higurashi…holy shit…the gang's going to get a kick out of this!' he thought with a smile. "Tell you what…I'll be your guide for the rest of the day so you won't have to try and figure out this map…sort of an apology for a couple of minutes ago." He offered his arm for her to take so he could lead her.

Laughing, Kagome accepted and they started walking down the hall towards their class.

Back at Professor Myoga's classroom

A knock sounded at the door. Stopping the notes and putting down the dry erase marker, Professor Myoga walked to the door and standing in the doorway was Miroku with a tardy slip in hand. As Myoga took the slip of paper Miroku leaned in and said something that most of the class couldn't hear. The only ones that heard it were Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Koga, and Kagura. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru glanced at each other waiting to see what the new girl looked like.

"Alright class, we have a new student today. Please say hello to Miss Higurashi Kagome."

As Miroku sat down in his seat he leaned over his desk, looked over at Inuyasha and said "You're going to absolutely love this."

Kagome walked into the class, her boots making a slight thud sound, and stopped at the front of the room, looking at the class. A few mouths were hanging open but most just stared…Inuyasha did both. Most guys thought beauty, where most girls thought freak, Sango and Inuyasha thought awesome, and Sesshoumaru thought interesting.

"Kagome, just find an empty seat anywhere and I'll get you a book by the end of class."

"Alright." Looking around the room she saw Miroku, the only person she knew, and an empty seat beside him.

Taking the seat, Kagome looked at Miroku and smiled. Smiling back, Miroku said "Hello again. I'd like you to meet the rest of the little group back here. This radiant beauty is Sango…"

"Nice try you suck up but I'm still pissed at you for hiding my field hockey stick; nice to meet you though, Kagome."

"Same here."

Miroku started with his introductions again after apologizing to Sango…again. "The idiot with the dog ears down there is Inuyasha."

"Hey," was the only thing Inuyasha could get out of his mouth, he was too busy trying to get over how much she looked like Kikyo.

"Hey," she said in response.

"And last but I certainly can't say least for fear of death…the guy sitting on the end there with the stripes on his face is Sesshoumaru."

"We've already met once…" Sesshoumaru clarified.

Kagome gave him a confused look and Inuyasha snapped out of his stupor long enough to turn and glare at his brother, asking "Where?"

Seeing the look on Kagome's face Sesshoumaru turned to her and said "The park. You tried to jump out of a swing but couldn't stick the landing."

"Oh, that was you?"

"Yes, and never dismiss me the way you did that day again."

'Arrogant ass-hole…'

"Quiet back there! You can talk to Miss Higurashi after class!" Professor Myoga yelled.

Inuyasha pulled out a piece of paper, jotted something down, folded it and sent it down the line to Kagome.

When Kagome got it she opened it and read --Ignore Sesshoumaru…he's an ass.-- Writing a response she sent it back.

--So he's always like that?--

--Yep. Always has been and I don't see him growing a heart any time soon…hey, we have a band and we're practicing after school. Do you want to come check it out?--

By now Miroku got tired of being out of the loop so decided to join in. --Yeah! You should go! They're loaded and always have food! Come on! Free food!--

--Ha ha, alright I'll go. But I'm not very musically inclined.--

--That's fine. Like Miroku said, you can just sit around and eat if you want. Woah, bell's about to ring, we can talk in the hall.--

Just as Kagome finished reading the bell rang and everyone rushed out.

"So as I was saying, we'll even give you a lift to the house."

"We?"

"Yeah, me and Sesshoumaru…we're brothers so we kinda live in the same house…don't tell me you didn't notice? How can you miss the hair and the eyes? Wow, you're pretty dense, you know tha—"

About then Inuyasha went flying to the other side of the hall and the other students walking near them just left a large circle around them like this happened all the time. Feeling a hand on both shoulders, Kagome turned to look at both Miroku and Sango. "When they fight it's best to just try to steer clear. Things usually don't end too well." Sango warned.

"Half-brothers, Inuyasha. If you must tell people that we are related, get the relation correct. Now get to class." Sesshoumaru said as he calmly turned to walk away.

As soon as Sesshoumaru had turned around, Inuyasha decided that he had had enough of his half-brother. He leapt to his feet and rushed behind Sesshoumaru ready to strike him in the back and finally take his brother by surprise, but just as he was about to actually land his blow he realized that the intended target, Sesshoumaru's head, was gone. Suddenly he felt something grab his shirt from behind and pulled sharply. Losing his balance, Inuyasha fell backwards and landed flat on his back on the cold tile floor of the hallway. Just as he started to gain back the breath that had been knocked out of him, he felt a heavy pressure on his throat and looked up to find Sesshoumaru standing next to him with one foot on Inuyasha's throat, holding him still.

"Next time you decide to strike out against me, prepare yourself to be in the exact situation that you're in now. Go to class before I tell Father about your pitiful performance in your classes." Sesshoumaru said as he lifted his foot and started down the hall to his next class.

AN: the end to yet another revised chapter. Me paranoid as hell. I just went to the bathroom to wash my face and my bedroom door isn't a foot away from it…yet I refuse to walk out of my room until I reach around the corner and turn on the bathroom light so that I can walk with my back to the wall and have light all around me…why do I do this you ask?? Because about 2 months ago I developed the completely irrational fear that a chupacabra along with several goblins have taken up residency in my house…I know it's crazy and impossible but the fear is still there and so far I've had 2 nervous breakdowns where I was absolutely paralyzed in fear and started crying until my boyfriend talked me down and told me that nothing was behind me in the shadows…yeah…if you ever want to feel better about yourself or your life just ask me questions about mine…


	4. Messy Kitchens

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in this story (save for Mikaru), they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and the Viz Corporation. I'm make no money from this—I'm broke, don't sue.

Chapter 4: Messy Kitchens

As it turned out she had all of her classes with Sango, and for her 3rd block she, Sango, and Miroku all had PE. The guys had to run laps while the girls did archery. She and Sango had been talking and had already become close friends.

"So do you and Miroku go out?"

"Sort of, things would be better if he could just keep his damn hands to himself sometimes though." Sango said as she released an arrow at the target.

With Miroku:

"I hate running, I hate running, I'm a musician not an athlete, I hate running…" Miroku chanted as he jogged around the track.

"Hey Miroku!" Koga yelled, coming up to slap Miroku on the back. "So do you know that new Higurashi girl?"

"Why?" Miroku knew Koga all too well. Koga was a decent guy and all but he had playboy tendencies. He was a handsome wolf youkai with a deep tan, ice blue eyes, and long black hair, plus he was a star track and baseball player and used all that to his advantage with girls. He was also completely clueless and could never take no for an answer.

"I was thinking you could introduce her to me. Come on, help me out! Oh, and I don't have baseball practice today so I'll be at band practice. Well, think about it and I'll see you later!" with that Koga took off. They were supposed to run ten laps around the track…Koga was on nine…everyone else was on three.

After school:

"Hey Inuyasha! Sango and Kagome should be out soon, they said they'd be meeting us out here." Miroku said sitting down on the steps out front of the school.

Looking up, Inuyasha saw Sesshoumaru come out of the school, pass him going down the steps, and start to get in his car. Leaping in the air and landing on the other side of the car he looked at Sesshoumaru and asked "Where the hell do you think you're going? We're supposed to give Kagome a ride to our house."

"No, Inuyasha, you can give her a ride because I am leaving now and am not going to wait on a lowly human. Besides you told her I would give her a ride without my consent, so I don't have to do anything. Good-bye, I will see you when you get home." Getting in the car Sesshoumaru backed out and sped off towards his father's house.

Inuyasha started growling and flattened his ears to his head as he stomped back up the stairs to wait on the girls with Miroku. Turning around, Inuyasha started glaring at the place where Sesshoumaru's car had once been. "Damn it! That fucking bastard left us, he just took off!"

"Well, looks like we're walking…again…eh Inuyasha?" Miroku asked looking up from his sitting position on the steps at his friend, who was still glaring at the parking lot.

Sitting down, Inuyasha sighed and turned to Miroku. "Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah, shoot…"

"Well…I think I like Kagome. She's smart, funny, seems nice, and not to mention beautiful, and don't try to tell me you hadn't noticed that."

"Why what would make you think that I would notice something like that?" Miroku said putting on an innocent look.

"Whatever, anyway…do you think she could like someone like me? I mean, do you think she would actually like a hanyou?"

"No idea. But she seems like a nice person so I guess you'll just have to ask Kagome yourself."

"Ask me what?" Kagome said walking up.

Inuyasha's ears perked up when he heard Kagome's voice behind him. She and Sango stood there holding their bags looking at him and Miroku. "Uh, well…if you minded that we take an…alternate means of transportation; seeing as our other one left already."

"So does that mean we're walking?"

Then Inuyasha had a thought. "Not exactly, or at least not for you it doesn't…"

"What in the world does that mean?" Kagome asked thoroughly confused.

"Come here and I'll show you."

Walking over to Inuyasha, Kagome just stared at him waiting to see what he would do or say. But without warning he picked her up bridal style and made a leap into the air bouncing from tree limbs to roof tops with Kagome screaming.

"What in the hell are you doing?!" Kagome yelled hanging onto Inuyasha's neck for dear life and squeezing her eye's shut.

"Kami, calm down will ya? I'm not going to drop you so relax. Open your eyes and look down."

Slowly Kagome opened her eyes and peered down at the ground. She was speechless. She could see all the people and cars on the ground, but they were tiny. She felt like she was flying. Smiling she let her eyes close and laid her head back so she could feel the wind through her hair.

"See, it's not that bad and it's a hell of a lot faster than walking."

"Yeah, you're right." Looking down at the ground again, she saw one dot that was moving as fast if not faster than they were. "Hey Inuyasha, what's that?" Kagome asked pointing at the dot.

A low growl erupted from Inuyasha's chest. "That's Koga. Looks like he doesn't have baseball practice today. You'll meet him when we get to the house. He's an ookami youkai and can run extremely fast. By the way, he'll probably try to hit on you so just do your best to ignore him."

"Alright. Hey, what about Sango and Miroku? We just sorta left them back there." Kagome said just realizing the fact that they couldn't move this fast.

"They'll be fine. They usually walk anyway."

"Okay, just making sure." Kagome said leaning her head against Inuyasha's chest. The rocking rhythm of Inuyasha's running was making her sleepy and before she knew it she was asleep in his arms while he was still flying over the city. And, unknown to her, she was being watched by a pair of golden eyes as she slept.

'I may hate running, but with her it's not so bad. She just looks so…content. I'll have to start doing this more often.' Inuyasha thought returning his gaze in front of him as he landed on another rooftop soundlessly and took off again.

About ten minutes later Inuyasha arrived at his house with the sleeping Kagome still in his arms. Walking up to the front door he shifted Kagome a little so he could get the door open then went inside and shut the door with his foot.

"Inuyasha! Who is that?" Inuyasha heard his mother's voice and instantly relaxed. His mother was one of the few people that really loved him and he was always at ease around her.

"Shh…this is Kagome. She's new at school and we invited her over to listen to the band but Sesshoumaru left us so I ran and carried her here. She fell asleep on the way though, so for right now until she wakes up I'm going to let her sleep in my room."

Walking up the stairs and into his room, Inuyasha carefully laid Kagome down on his bed, careful not to disturb her. Turning to walk out he stopped in the doorway for one last look back before heading back down stairs to find Sesshoumaru and chew him out.

In the basement:

Sesshoumaru was sitting on a stool tuning some of the equipment before everyone else got there when Inuyasha slammed open the door and stormed down the stairs.

Picking up one of his guitars, Inuyasha plopped down on one of the couches that they kept down there and started playing with some chords. After about ten minutes of thick silence Inuyasha looked up at Sesshoumaru and said "You really are a bastard, you know that?"

Nothing.

"Would it really kill you to be nice to her…or anyone else for that matter?"

Still no response.

"I swear, sometimes I think you had a pool que shoved up your ass the second you were born and now it's stuck."

At this, Sesshoumaru stood up, walked over to a pool table that Inuyasha had moved down there along with Miroku because they claimed to be bored one day, grabbed a pool que, calmly walked back across the room and brought it down on top of Inuyasha's head.

"Ow!! What the hell Sesshoumaru?!"

"One, if anyone is a bastard it would technically be you seeing as your mother and our father were not properly mated or 'married' when you were conceived and unfortunately brought into this world and my parents were." Here Sesshoumaru paused to deliver another swift blow to Inuyasha's head, and then proceeded as Inuyasha rubbed his head and cursed. "Two, I don't ever recall being nice to anyone so therefore the foreign act may put my body into shock and I might just die."

"Then knock yourself out and go for it…" Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

Another swift blow was delivered to his head. "And three, if you continue to speak to me, the next Lord of the Western Lands, heir to father's estate and company, a full blooded inu-youkai, and your older brother, I will personally make sure a pool cue is, as you so crudely put it, "shoved up your ass" and make sure you cannot remove it." With that final statement Sesshoumaru delivered the final blow to Inuyasha's head, breaking the wooden que.

As Inuyasha was cursing, rubbing his head, and shouting death threats, Sesshoumaru started heading upstairs to his room to change clothes.

Walking past Inuyasha's room Sesshoumaru scrunched his nose at the rank smell of dirty clothes and his brothers own unique putrid smell rolling out of the room, but stopped when he caught something that didn't fit. It smelled like fresh heather and rain. That definitely wasn't anything of his brothers.

Looking around Inuyasha's room Sesshoumaru sought out the smell that had captured his attention. He stepped over and around the piles of clothes and continued to sniff the air, trying to separate the sour scent of dirty clothes and shoes from the sweet, alluring scent.

He finally stopped at the edge of the bed and looked down. Lying there, contently asleep, on Inuyasha's bed was that girl he had met (sort of) in the park that one evening.

Now that he was this close to her, he could sense the immense power she had but doubted that she knew anything about it and therefore wouldn't be able to control it should she ever one day accidentally tap into it. He'd have to be careful around her.

Sesshoumaru heard the front door open and close and knew Koga was there. 'He must have run into Ayame on the way or else he should have been here sooner. Sesshoumaru almost (key word almost) felt sorry for Koga. From what Koga had said he and Ayame had lived next to each other when they were little and apparently Koga had said he would marry her when they got older. Well Ayame had moved away during grade school and moved back their first year of high school claiming she was Koga's fiancée, but Koga didn't remember the promise and now had his own personal stalker.

Sango and Miroku would get there in a few minutes and they could get started with rehearsal. Sesshoumaru had a new song he wanted to show them and try out. They had a job in a couple of days at a local club. They played at several different clubs in the area, but were at The Alley almost regularly, so now pretty much every week Sesshoumaru tried to add a new song or two to their line-up.

With one last glance down at the sleeping girl, Sesshoumaru turned and started towards his room once again. Upon reaching his destination he started to strip the long sleeve black shirt he had chosen that morning and opted to wear something cooler to practice in. Looking in one of the drawers of his dresser he found a gray beater. After picking up the shirt he spotted a pair of sweatpants that were underneath and thought about changing into those also but decided that his current pants were fine. They were black and comfortably baggy, but not the baggy that human males seemed to like so much. Sesshoumaru refused to wear the ridiculous pants that would fall half way down his ass. Most of the pants he owned he had tailored to specifically fit him. As a child there was always a problem finding clothes that would fit because of his height and build, so his parents had decided to hire a personal tailor.

Taking the chains off of his pants, the few chain necklaces which belonged to his mother, and the spiked bracelet he wore, he laid them on his dresser and headed out of his room and back down stairs. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he could see the front door open and Sango and Miroku walk through. He nodded at them as he walked down a hallway and into the door at the end. Running his hand over the wall Sesshoumaru's fingers brushed a light switch and flicked it on. Watching as the room lit up he sighed and started seeing to all the equipment making sure everything was still in tune and ready for rehearsal.

After making sure strings were in good condition and tuned to a perfect pitch and drum heads were tightened to get the best sound, he set to work on getting amplifiers set up and ready. Once all the equipment was ready he went to a computer that he kept in the corner to print out the music he wrote and got all the parts he had printed off the night before and set them with the correct instruments.

When he finally finished he walked silently back down the hallways, through the living room, down another hallway and into the kitchen where his sensitive hearing had picked up squeals of delight and a few random grumblings. As soon as the light from the kitchen hit him he felt a pair of small arms wrap around his leg and soon after felt a spray of cold water hit his face. Instantly seeing red, Sesshoumaru's eye's snapped up to where the water had come from. His idiot brother stood there holding the spray hose that was connected to the sink. 'Of course…who else?'

"Save me Lord Sesshoumaru! Your brother has the water snake and it's going to get me!" a tiny girl shouted as she gripped the legs of his pants tighter and let out a laugh when Inuyasha sprayed her with the cold water.

Softly pulling the small girl back, Sesshoumaru kneeled down and looked her in the face, "Rin, I know you were having fun, but you really shouldn't encourage those with lower intelligence than yourself to make messes in the kitchen. You're dress is soaking wet now; go see Lady Izayoi and she'll help you dry your dress."

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru." Rin smiled as she looked up at her hero and protector. She started to walk out of the kitchen, but stopped suddenly as she heard Inuyasha say,

"He's not "Lord Sesshoumaru" yet."

Turning around, little Rin marched straight up to Inuyasha, stood on her tippy toes so that she could get as close to his face as she could, and said "He's Lord Sesshoumaru to me and he will be to you too someday, so you better show him the respect that he deserves before you get in trouble." All the while she was wagging her finger in Inuyasha's face. After her little lecture, Rin trotted off to find Lady Izayoi so that she could get dried off.

"So how does it feel to have your own personal fan club Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha laughed.

"At least others look up to me. You come from the bottom of the barrel so I doubt that even the dirt you walk on looks up to you, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru countered. He turned to look at the table by the window only to find Sango, Miroku, and Koga sitting around the table eating a reheated pizza and watching the entire spectacle. "Couldn't one of you have done something to stop him from making a mess?"

"Probably," Miroku replied, "but it wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining as the free dinner theatre show we just got."

Turning with an aggravated growl, Sesshoumaru picked up a dish towel lying nearby on the counter and threw it in Inuyasha's face, "Clean up this mess then come down stairs so we can get started."

Just as Sesshoumaru was about to walk out of the kitchen he felt something hit him in the back of the head. Catching it before it fell to the floor, he saw that it was the towel he had picked up earlier. Looking up he saw Inuyasha trying to stop from laughing, but slowly failing.

"Okay, so how come you can dodge a punch to the back of the head but can't dodge-" and that was as far as Inuyasha got before Sesshoumaru used the offending towel to wrap around the back of Inuyasha's head and pull him to the floor where he proceeded to put a foot on Inuyasha's chest.

"If you won't clean the mess with the towel then I'll clean it with your shirt even if you are still wearing it." Sesshoumaru stated as he used his foot to push Inuyasha across the floor as his shirt picked up most of the water.

"Dammit Sesshoumaru! Why in the hell do you always throw me in the floor?!"

"Because that is where you belong in my presence. Maybe one day you'll be able to take a hint or at the very least follow the directions of your superiors." Turning to look back at the group occupying the table he said "If you're all quite finished watching this miserable spectacle, it's past time for us to start practice."

Finishing the last of their snacks Miroku, Sango, and Koga got up, walked past Inuyasha (who was still lying in the floor debating on whether or not he really wanted to change his shirt), and started down the hallway to their practice room.

AN: yet another end. Hopefully when I get all of this up I'll have through chapter 6 or 7 posted. I know some parts of the story might be developing a little fast but I really don't care right now. The pace will level out soon enough. I'm not sure how long this is going to be, but we've got a WHILE to go if everything goes how I want it to go. And just so everyone knows, I've been making a list of songs that will appear in the story and that inspire different chapters. I might post that list up at a later time but going along with everything the story will start out (briefly) Inu/Kag and work it's way over to the main pairing that I'm sure you're reading this for.


	5. Practice

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in this story (save for Mikaru), they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and the Viz Corporation. I'm make no money from this—I'm broke, don't sue.

Chapter 5: Practice

Flying. She was flying. Wind rushing through her hair as she flew over the forests below. Looking down, Kagome giggled at seeing the tall trees flash by her in blurs of green. There was a clearing coming up ahead and Kagome decided to touch down from her flight and check it out. As her bare feet gently landed on the soft grass, Kagome looked around her at the wildflowers growing in the field. There was just about every color she could think of and the air was fragrant with the mixed sweet smells of the many, many flowers. As she started walking she noticed that instead of her usual clothes she was wearing a white kimono with a light pink obi and dark pink sakura petals decorating the hem and the ends of her sleeves.

Looking up, Kagome saw a figure sitting on a large rock near a small river that cut through the field of flowers. White hair cascaded down the figure's back that was covered with a bright red fabric. But what caught Kagome's attention were the two white doggie ears perched on top of this lone figures head. 'Inuyasha…' Kagome thought with a smile. She slowly approached the river's edge and just as she was about to call out, Inuyasha turned to look at her with a sad smile on his face.

"You have to leave this place, Kagome." Inuyasha stated plainly.

"But…why Inuyasha? It's all so beautiful…why would I have to leave?"

"Because you're not really here. It's time for you to wake up from this dreamscape. Maybe you'll be able to return sometime." Inuyasha answered with a bit of hope in his voice.

Groaning as she was pulled from the beautiful field she would probably only ever see in her dreams, Kagome blinked a few times as she woke up in a very unfamiliar place. Looking around for some clue as to where she was, Kagome looked to a nightstand and saw a picture sitting next to a digital alarm clock. Kagome picked up the picture and looked at the people in the focus of the camera. There was a beautiful woman in a long white wedding gown standing next to a tall, handsome demon with silver hair and piercing gold eyes. They were both smiling brightly with joy on what was obviously their wedding day. Standing between the happy couple was a small boy in a small suit that was looking up at the woman and smiling as brightly as the couple above him. That's when Kagome noticed the small dog ears on top of the boy's head and realized that this must be a young Inuyasha on his mother and father's wedding day.

As Kagome continued to smile at the picture she heard a light rustle coming from somewhere. Looking around she noticed a small, round face with large brown eyes staring at her from just around the corner of the doorway to what she assumed to be the hallway. Blinking her blue eyes a few times as the brown eyes continued to watch her, Kagome asked, "Hello there, who are you? Could you tell me where I am?"

Rin stepped away from her hiding place and slowly walked into the room where Kagome got a better look at her. She was an adorable little girl with long dark hair and large chocolate eyes that seemed to be brimming with curiosity and happiness. She was wearing a white sundress with small orange flowers decorating the bottom and an orange belt around her waist…and for some odd reason she also had a small section of her hair in a side ponytail. Shrugging off the last observation as an adorable quirk, Kagome watched as the small girl wandered a barely noticeable pathway through the piles of clothes, papers, and random other things until she was standing directly in front of Kagome still staring up into her eyes, chocolate meeting cerulean.

"My name is Rin! And you're in Yashi-chan's room! But don't tell him I called him that because then he'll chase me and yell and Sesshoumaru-sama will stop him and then they'll fight…I don't like seeing them fight."

'Yashi-chan? Oh, she must mean Inuyasha. So this really is his room. I wonder why I'm in here.' Kagome thought. "Well Rin, would you mind showing me a way out of here?"

"Sure! Would you like to go to the garden with me? I'll pick you some pretty flower's, pretty lady!"

"Please, call me Kagome. Lead the way to the garden Rin because I don't have a clue where I'm going," Kagome said as she smiled.

"Rin, wait!" Kagome shouted as she tried to keep up with the hyper young girl. They had gone to the gardens, but Kagome had never seen anything like this. It was like the garden out of a movie. There were winding pebble path's that took her past every kind of flower, shrub, and tree imaginable. As Kagome chased the young girl down the path in front of her she saw an array of colors blur past her, too busy to stop and look at the surrounding beauty of the well maintained garden. Finally Kagome reached a fork in the path. And Rin was nowhere in sight. She could still hear the young child giggling as she played her game of 'keep up or get lost' as Kagome had dubbed it, but Kagome couldn't tell where the sound was coming from…only that it was steadily getting further away.

Looking around, Kagome realized that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and that she was completely lost in a garden that she had no idea what size it was. Kagome decided that she was going to do her damnedest to get back to that house on her own. Walking back down the path that she was standing on, she started looking around for any signs of the large house. After about ten minutes of wandering down the same path, Kagome saw what she was looking for…or at least part of it: the roof. Running down the path now, Kagome never took her eyes off of the house's roof.

Eventually, after a few wrong turns and dead ends, Kagome found the door that she had passed through earlier with Rin, whom Kagome was now convinced might very well be a little demon disguised as a human. Opening the door and quietly entering the house, Kagome looked around the kitchen to see if anyone was there. Her breath caught in her throat for a moment as she saw a breathtakingly beautiful woman sitting at a table near a window. She had long, black, cascading hair that had a healthy shine to it as it reflected the sunlight that poured through the window she sat by. A serene look was painted on her face as she simply sat and sipped her tea and read her book.

When the woman noticed Kagome she looked up and Kagome could see that her eyes were a dark honey brown color that sparkled up at her with what could only be described as a mother's love. Kagome suddenly felt a pang in her heart and realized just how much she missed her own mother. Reaching up to her chest to finger the pendants of the necklace her mother gave her, Kagome remembered that she had left it for her mother. 'I wonder if she's thinking about me now like I'm thinking about her.'

"Hello dear," Izayoi greeted, "Kagome, am I right? You must have gone into the gardens with Rin." Izayoi concluded by looking at the slightly out of breath Kagome. She giggled and said, "She's done that to many people who aren't familiar with the gardens."

"Well, I'll be sure not to follow her again," Kagome stated with a winded chuckle. "And yes, I am Kagome, but I'm sorry, I haven't learned your name yet."

"I am Izayoi. I'm also Inuyasha's mother and Sesshoumaru's step-mother, and even though he doesn't like me I try to be a mother figure to him as well."

Kagome was mildly shocked at the bright smile that Izayoi gave her as she spoke of loving Sesshoumaru even though he resented her. Suddenly remembering herself, Kagome took a deep bow to the lady of the house and said, "It's wonderful and an honor to meet you, ma'am."

"My, my; what a polite child! How delightful! It's a rare thing indeed to see such well manner's in someone of your age. Children today rarely respect their elder's anymore, Inuyasha among them from time to time, so I'm very impressed. Your parent's have done a wonderful job with raising you, dear."

"I'm sure that they would love to hear someone say that." Kagome said with a smile. "Oh, Mrs. Taisho,-"

"Call me Izayoi, dear."

"Yes ma'am. Izayoi, do have a phone that I may use to call my grandfather so I can let him know that I'm going to be late?"

"Of course. It's on the wall near the refrigerator. Would you like something to eat, Kagome? The other children already raided the fridge earlier, but I can make you a sandwich if you'd like."

"No ma'am. Thank you though." Was Kagome's reply as she picked up the phone, dialed the shrines number, and talked with her grandfather. After explaining that she was spending the afternoon at a friend's house, she hung up and turned back around. "I'm actually a little embarrassed seeing how this is my first time in your home and I was asleep when I got here." Kagome commented with a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Don't worry about that, dear. Our home is your home; you're welcome to sleep and eat as much as you'd like while you're here." Izayoi said with a bright smile on her face. "I love having other women in the house. I live with three men and when the band comes over Sango is the only girl and even then she's more or less 'one of the guys.' Then there's dear little Rin, but she has far too much energy for me. I hope you and I can get to know each other better in the future."

"That sounds very nice. I'm living in a house with two men right now as well. It would be nice to spend some time with someone more effeminate that doesn't constantly talk about soccer or old stories about the shrine."

"Well I know you didn't come here to talk with an old woman like me; if you go through this door and down the hallway to the living room there will be another hallway and the others should be down that way in the last door on the right."

"Thank you very much." And with a small bow and a smile, Kagome began to follow the directions given to her until she turned down another hallway and heard music. Looking farther down the long hallway, Kagome saw the small girl, Rin, sitting next to a door bobbing her head in time with the music.

"Hello there, trouble-maker. You left me out there." Kagome said with a smile as she slid down the wall to sit down next to Rin.

"I didn't leave you, you just couldn't keep up. I didn't want to miss listening to the rehearsal. It's always the best part of my day." Rin beamed up at Kagome

Looking down at the small girl, Kagome couldn't help but ask a question that had been tugging at the back of her mind since she had met the rambunctious rascal. "Rin, you're fully human right? You're not a hanyou or anything?"

Blinking a few times, Rin answered "Nope, I'm all human silly!" And then proceeded to poke the center of Kagome's forehead.

'So that rules out any possibility of being Inuyasha's younger sister…' "Well…if you don't mind my asking, everyone here seems very familiar with you and I was wondering why would girl your age want to hang out with a bunch of high school band members than with girls your own age?"

"That's simple, Kago-chan! Sesshoumaru-sama is my baby-sitter!"

At first Kagome smiled warmly at the nickname Rin had given her, but hearing that Sesshoumaru was baby-sitting Rin almost knocked her over! 'He doesn't really seem the baby-sitting type to me…surely I'm missing something.'

About that time Kagome heard the music in the room stop and looked up when Rin jumped up and started tugging on her hands. "Come on Kagome! The music stopped and that means we can go inside now! Come on, come on, come on!" The small girl was practically jumping up and down with excitement as she waited for Kagome to stand up again.

Once Kagome was on her feet, Rin opened up the door they had been sitting next to and started down a flight of stairs to the room below. Kagome noticed that it was a fairly large room with some music equipment in the front and a new, very high-tech-looking computer in the corner. Closer to the back she saw a couch, an air hockey table, and a pool table. Sesshoumaru was working on the computer, Miroku was dozing on the couch, and Inuyasha, Koga, and Sango were locked in a game of pool.

"Damn it!" Koga shouted as Inuyasha laughed.

"You scratched! My turn. Watch and learn, wolf. Eight ball, corner pocket, for the win." And just as Inuyasha was lining up his shot, the shiny black ball disappeared. "What the hell?" Then as if on cue, Rin ran out from underneath the table and ran to Sesshoumaru with a large grin on her face.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Sesshoumaru-sama! I made Yashi-chan miss his shot. Was that good?" Rin beamed eager to please her care-taker.

"Yes, Rin. That was very good." Sesshoumaru stated in a calm voice as he patted her head and took the billiard ball from her. "Inuyasha, you missed your shot therefore you lose. Better luck next time." He said as he threw the ball back at his half-brother.

"That's not fair and you know it Sesshoumaru. What do you think guys; do I get a redo on this?" Inuyasha said as he turned to Sango and Koga after catching the ball.

"Hell no!" They called in unison.

Inuyasha looked up to see Kagome standing on the stairway and instantly forgot about his brother's ward that insisted on sabotaging his games. "Kagome! You're up…how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Kagome answered as she descended the remaining stairs. "So this is where you guys practice? Cool…what are you doing now though?"

"Just taking a break while Sesshoumaru over there listens to the last take we recorded. If he hears anything out of tune or time he bitches about it and we do it again until it's perfect to his standards." Inuyasha scoffed shooting his half-brother a glare.

"I do not "bitch," Inuyasha. I only constantly have to point out your mistakes and idiocy." Sesshoumaru said calmly from his corner as he continued to carefully listen to the music playing.

"Feh…whatever. He just bitches about it because while the rest of us practice after school he puts in extra time doing dumbass vocal exercises while he walks around the house. You're not any better than the rest of the band Sesshoumaru!"

Sesshoumaru calmly placed the headphones he had been using down on the computer table and walked up to Inuyasha. "Dear little brother, are you implying that you are even on the same level as I?" He asked with a small, lazy grin.

Inuyasha saw this and knew that anytime Sesshoumaru smiled it wasn't going to end well for him. But despite knowing this, his pride forced him to continue, "What if I am, Sesshoumaru?"

"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru started as he took a few steps forward. "The band as a whole will only be as good as the individual members. If I practice and raise my level then I would hope you would follow my example and do the same." It looked like he was done and Inuyasha was about to get away unscathed when Sesshoumaru quickly struck out with single hand and struck his brother across the face. Three burn trails were left where his claws, glazed in a mild poison, had grazed his flesh. "And if you ever imply that scum such as yourself is above a proud being such as I, my poison will melt your skin instead of merely burn."

Kagome had watched the siblings fight and had thought to stay out of it until she saw the way Sesshoumaru had hit Inuyasha and threatened him. The entire scene just seemed to hit a lot closer to home than she would have thought. Swiftly covering the distance between them she put herself between the two brothers and glared up at Sesshoumaru. "Don't hit him," she seethed. "You have no right to hurt someone or think yourself superior because you can make someone else feel smaller."

Everyone in the room could see that the girl was beyond angry. Her small frame was shaking slightly with the intensity of it as she continued to give Sesshoumaru a look that would have caused a lesser man or demon to step back. But as Sesshoumaru watched her, he could see that her eyes seemed to be looking through him rather than at him. 'Who are you really talking to?' He wondered before narrowing his eyes slightly at her and turning away.

Inuyasha just watched in awe as his brother turned and walked away after being reprimanded by Kagome. He'd never seen someone other than his parents stand up to Sesshoumaru before and walk away from it. "Damn Kagome, I think you're my new personal hero!" Inuyasha said before laughing and putting a hand on her shoulder.

Kagome turned around and smiled up at her new dog-eared friend. "So what have you guys been practicing while I was passed out? Sorry about that, by the way."

"No problem, those guys are always sleeping here," Inuyasha said as the pointed at Sango, Miroku, and Koga. "And we were just practicing a new song for this Saturday. We usually go play a few songs down at a local club, The Alley. You should stop by if you aren't doing anything."

Kagome thought for a moment before asking, "This Saturday? I actually have a friend coming into town to see how my move went. Would it be okay if they came with me?"

"Sure! The more the merrier. I'll let you know what time we're going on a little later in the week, okay?" He smiled when Kagome smiled and nodded her approval. 'She's beautiful…' he thought before coming back to see Sesshoumaru walking back to his microphone and looking at him. "It looks like we're about to run through the song one more time before calling it a day. You can go listen on the couch if you want to."

"You really don't mind? Rin was waiting outside the door to listen earlier."

"Nah, it's fine. Frosty-pants over there just doesn't like people coming in and out of the room while we practice."

"Okay then, I can't wait to hear it." Kagome said as she made her way over to the couch to sit next to Rin. 'Wow,' she thought. 'This doesn't even seem like my life anymore. Everything's done a complete 180…no more being scared to go home, no more worrying about Souta when I'm not with him, and I'm actually happy and relaxed for once. I think I could get used to this.' She looked over the members that made up the band. She saw Sesshoumaru standing next to a mic stand, Inuyasha donning his guitar, Sango ready with her bass, Miroku was standing next to some equipment to control the equalizers while recording she assumed, and someone she hadn't met yet was sitting behind a drum set and winked at her when she made eye contact with him, causing her to blush.

Sango started with the base and then,

Who's to know if your soul will fade at all  
The one you sold to fool the world  
You lost your self-esteem along the way  
Yeah

Good god your coming up with reasons  
Good god your dragging it out  
Good god its the changing of the seasons  
I feel so raped  
So follow me down and just

Fake it if your out of direction  
Fake it if you don't belong here  
Fake it if you feel like infection  
Woah your such a fucking hypocrite

And you should know that the lies won't hide your flaws  
No sense in hiding all of yours  
You gave up on your dreams along the way  
Yeah

Good god your coming up with reasons  
Good god your dragging it out  
Good god its the changing of the seasons  
I feel so raped  
So follow me down and just

Fake it if your out of direction  
Fake it if you don't belong here  
Fake it if you feel like infection  
Woah your such a fucking hypocrite

Whoah Whoah

I can fake with the best of anyone  
I can fake with the best of em all  
I can fake with the best of anyone  
I can fake it all

Who's to know if your soul will fade at all  
The one you sold to fool the world  
You lost your self-esteem along the way  
Yeah

Good god your coming up with reasons  
Good god your dragging it out  
Good god its the changing of the seasons  
I feel so raped  
Man follow me down and just

Fake it if your out of direction  
Fake it if you don't belong here  
Fake it if you feel like infection  
Woah your such a fucking hypocrite

Fake it if your out of direction  
Fake it if you don't belong here  
Fake it if you feel like infection  
Woah your such a fucking hypocrite

The song ended and Kagome could only sit there in silent admiration as Rin stood up and cheered for an encore. She snapped out of it when she felt the seat dip next to her as someone flopped down on the couch. "So what did you think?" asked the drummer that she'd yet to meet.

"It was amazing! I've never heard a live performance like that before. I have goose-bumps!" She said laughing. Then she looked up to the man still sitting next to her. She took in his startling blue eyes and tan along with his dark hair, cocky grin, and pointed ears. "Hello, I'm Kagome. I don't believe we've met yet." She said introducing herself as she stuck out her hand.

Koga took the offered hand and gave a small shake as he said, "It's very nice to meet you, Kagome. My name is Koga, and I must say that you are quite a beauty. Maybe we could see more of each other outside school and practice." He added with his signature wink and charming smile.

Kagome gently pulled her hand out of the demon's grasp with a smile and responded, "It's nice to meet you as well, Koga, and I see you're as much of a flirt as I was warned about."

A few muffled snickers were heard coming from Miroku and Sango while Inuyasha outright laughed. "Finally, a girl besides Sango that doesn't melt at that stupid grin of his! Kagome, I think you'll fit in just fine around here." Inuyasha said as Koga growled at him.

"Well," Sango said as she stretched and reached for her bag and sports equipment, "I think it's about time I start heading home. Are you coming Miroku?"

"No, I'm going to stay a little longer to go over what was recorded today with Sesshoumaru. You go ahead and be careful, I'll call you later." He said with a smile.

"Okay, what about you Kagome? I only live a few houses down from your shrine. I could show you the way back since you fell asleep on your way here."

"That sounds great, Sango. Thanks!" Kagome said as she stood. "It'll save me from having to back-track to the school." Grabbing her bag as well she walked up the stairs with her new friend as she waved goodbye to the guys.

As Kagome and Sango were crossing the living room the front door opened and they looked up. A man that looked remarkably like Sesshoumaru only older and slightly more masculine walked through. He was wearing a business suit and looked very happy to be home. Looking around he noticed the girls and smiled. "Hello Sango, heading out already?"

"Yes sir. We just finished practice and I need to get home so I can get supper started for Kohaku."

"Ah yes, you're such a good older sister. If only my boys got along as well as you and your brother," he said with a laugh. "And who is this? I don't believe I've met you before." He asked turning to Kagome.

"Higurashi Kagome, sir. I just moved here recently. It's a pleasure to meet you." She greeted with a bow and a smile.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Higurashi." He said with a smile. "I am Inu Taisho, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's father. I take it we'll be seeing a lot more of you later on?"

"Kagome, please; and yes sir. Your sons and wife have made me feel very welcome already."

"Alright then, I won't keep you girls if you have to be going. Have a safe trip home." He called after them as they walked past and out the door.

Kagome and Sango walked down the sidewalk as the street lights started to come on signaling night fall. They had been chatting about different things like school and brothers and music when Sango had a thought and just had to ask her question. "Kagome, earlier when Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were fighting, why did you get between them? I don't know if you've noticed or not but it's not exactly the safest place to be."

Kagome looked at Sango then at the sidewalk ahead before answering, "I just don't think it's right to hit someone for a reason as petty thinking you're above them. It's wrong." Kagome voice held a very stern tone that Sango didn't miss picking up on.

"I don't think it's right either, but I'll warn you now that Sesshoumaru tends to lash out at those that get in his way pretty easily. Just be careful around him, okay?"

"Alright Sango, thanks for the warning. Earlier you said you had to go prepare supper for your brother. What about your parents? Aren't they home yet?"

"Actually our parents died in a hit-and-run accident a few years back. I manage to take care of Kohaku well enough and our parents left us enough money to take care of ourselves and our godparents check in on us from time to time, but they live a few towns over."

"I'm sorry to hear that…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Kagome knew what it was like to explain about a missing parent.

"What about you? You said that you and your brother moved in with your grandfather. Where are your parents?"

Kagome sighed, 'and so start the lies…' she thought. "Well our father died of undetermined causes when Souta and I were still little. Our mother remarried a few years ago, but everyone thought it would be best if Souta and I came to live with Gramps for a while. I think he wants one of us to take over the shrine one day." Kagome laughed. 'Not so bad, some vague and stretched truths, but no blatant lies.'

"Alright, well how's unpacking going? Need any help?"

"I've got most of my things unpacked but I could use some help rearranging my furniture."

"I could come over tomorrow and help if you want." Sango offered with a smile. "Koga and I have sports practice after school and Miroku has to DJ so there won't be band practice. I could come over and help after that."

"Sounds great! Kohaku is welcome to come over as well. I'm sure Souta would love to meet someone his age that lives nearby."

"Sounds like a plan. Well here's your gigantic staircase so I'll head on home and see you tomorrow!" Sango said as she walked ahead to finish her walk home.

Kagome waved and watched as Sango continued down the sidewalk before turning to stare up at her new enemy: the stairs from hell. Starting her trek up the stone structure she had one thought, 'a few more weeks of this will equal Buns o' Steel for Kagome…'

AN: okay, well I'm going to go ahead and post this and start work on the next chapter so you won't have to wait even longer…I'm sure I probably lost most of my readers with as long as this has taken me but now that some things in my life have started to un-suck I'm learning to balance things better oh, I also found out today that my bf is in a movie trailer that was shot at our HS our senior year. It's pretty sweet. I have some friends playing zombies in the movie. I helped make props and shit lol it's called Dance of the Dead. It comes out on DVD next month I think. I've also heard rumors that it's going to be one of the 8 Films To Die For this year. So check it out. The trailer is on Youtube, just search for the movie title.

Also, as some of you may have noticed, I changed my penname. That's because someone that I know (and don't want to read my work) stumbled across my profile but luckily doesn't know any of my story titles. That's it for tonite


	6. Secrets Revealed

Chapter 6: Secrets Revealed

Kagome arrived at school the next morning on time to see her new group of friends on the school steps laughing as Inuyasha blushed and glared at the rest of them. "Hey guys! What's so funny?"

Miroku calmed down long enough to say, "We were just teasing Inuyasha because he lik—oof!"

Inuyasha smiled victoriously after elbowing Miroku in the ribs and turned to Kagome. "Miroku and Koga were just being asses. Ignore them. So what are you doing after school since we're not having band practice today?"

"Sango and Kohaku are coming over after she gets done with practice. Right Sango?"

"Yeah, I'm helping Kagome move some stuff around in her room."

"Oh," Inuyasha said feeling a little disappointed. "Hey, since you weren't here for your first class yesterday, how about I show you where it is? C'mon!" And without waiting for an answer he grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the building. They walked in silence to Kagome's locker and Inuyasha stood to the side and took in Kagome's appearance for the day as she got the books she needed and put her bag away. She was wearing a pair of black denim shorts, a white off-the-shoulder long sleeve shirt with a black tank top underneath, and a pair of black sandals. Her long hair was straight and pulled back in a loose ponytail and the only make-up she was wearing today was some foundation, mascara, and a little eyeliner. Inuyasha was distracted admiring long slender legs when he heard her locker shut.

"Well, I have Applied World Literature for my first class. Lead the way." Kagome said with a smile as she linked her arm with Inuyasha's causing him to blush.

Coughing nervously, Inuyasha decided to make small talk along the way. "So you said someone was coming to visit you Saturday and you're bringing them to the show? Who is it?"

"Yeah; his name is Hojo and he's actually the one who helped me move here. He's been one of my closest friends if not the closest friend I've had since we were in second grade." She answered thinking back to everything he'd done for her. "He was always there to help me out of the tough spots and through the hard times." It had left Kagome's mouth before she realized what she had said.

"What kind of hard times? Nothing too bad, right?"

"Oh no, no, no, just the usual family dramas!" Kagome said with a forced smile and strained laugh. Now it was her turn to be nervous.

After a few minutes of heavy silence Inuyasha decided to break the awkward moment. "Kagome, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah! I mean…umm…sure, go ahead." She corrected. 'Anything to get away from the topic of home…'

Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha started "Well, if you're not seeing anyone from your home town I was wondering if you'd want to go out sometime?"

Getting over her initial shock, Kagome smiled up at the white haired boy and nodded her head. "That sounds great! But I'm actually from Tokyo. My brother and I were both born here and we lived here until I was about eight. My mom got remarried and we moved away to live with her new husband."

"So the shrine belongs to your dad's side of the family? What happened to your dad?"

Kagome was silent for a few moments before she answered "Well…nobody is really sure. My mom and I came home to the shrine one day from shopping and my dad was lying unconscious on the ground….he died before the ambulance even got to the hospital. They could never figure out what happened…" That's when Kagome felt the warm trail of a tear rolling down her cheek. "Umm…this is the classroom right? Thanks for showing me where it is, but could you show me where the nearest restrooms are?"

Inuyasha pointed her to a set of doors a few feet down the hall and didn't ask anymore questions as she walked down the hall without turning back. He had seen her tears and now felt guilty about asking about her father. Wanting to make sure that she was alright, Inuyasha walked back outside and pulled Sango aside to ask her to go check on Kagome for him. Nodding her head she walked into the building and found Kagome rummaging around in her locker instead of in the bathroom Inuyasha had said she'd find her in. "Hey Kagome! What are you doing?"

~*~*~*~

Kagome walked into the bathroom and set her books down on the counter by the sinks. She looked in a mirror and saw the small trails left behind by her tears and wiped them away with the back of her hand. She instantly regretted this however when she accidentally ran over her still sensitive black eye. "Shit!" Kagome cursed with a wince. Looking back into the mirror she could see that she had also accidentally wiped away most of her foundation covering the dark ring. She automatically reached to her side for the make-up she kept in her bag only to sigh in frustration when she realized that she had left most of her things in her locker.

Pulling some of her hair into her face to cover her abused eye, Kagome grabbed her books and hurried to her locker hoping to reapply her make-up before she ran into someone she knew. She reached her locker without incident and thought she was in the clear when she heard "Hey Kagome! What are you doing?"

Sango walked up to Kagome as she turned away from her locker with a polite smile and responded "Oh, nothing much. Just getting something I forgot…"

"Okay…well, Inuyasha's worried and wanted me to come check on you. What happened??"

"Nothing, nothing; we were just talking and some not so pleasant memories came back, that's all." Kagome was really hoping that Sango would go back outside with the group, but of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Well don't mind him, he hasn't quite gotten the grasp of tact yet." Sango said with a laugh. "You know, your eyes are such a pretty color you really shouldn't hide them behind your hair." She said in an almost motherly way as she reached out to push the hair out of Kagome's face. What she wasn't expecting was for Kagome to suddenly reach up and knock her hand away.

"No!" Kagome blurted out. "I…I mean, it's fine…really. I was actually just about to fix it. I'll come back outside in a second so you can go on ahead—"

Sango knew something was wrong. She hadn't known Kagome long, but an outburst like that seemed like something better reserved for Inuyasha or Koga. "Kagome…is everything alright? Let me see your face." She said as she reached out to push the hair out of the way again, this time without interference.

Kagome winced when she heard Sango's gasp at seeing her current secret. "Kagome! What happened to you?!" But just then the bell for class rang and the hallway filled with students trying to get to class on time.

Kagome moved back a step so that her hair fell from Sango's grasp and back into her face. "I'll explain later, but for now I have to get to class." And with that she grabbed her bag and books and left for class as Sango stood in the hall watching her retreating form.

Kagome made it to class and was relieved to see that not many students had made it to class yet. Sitting down in a hurry she pulled out her bag and started rummaging through it looking for her foundation. Then she heard someone sit down in the seat beside her and silently cursed her luck as she glanced over to see who it was. White hair came into her vision along with magenta stripes on ivory skin. 'Great…this is just peachy.' She thought.

Sesshoumaru turned to look at the girl who had taken occupancy in the desk next to his as she gave a small "Aha!" and turned her back to him. In his momentary glance he saw over her shoulder into a small mirror and got a look at what could have only been a black eye. But it was quickly covered up with some make-up and he returned his bored look to the front of the classroom. He vaguely wondered what had happened, but decided that he would die before asking such a question. 'Maybe that's why she stopped me from striking Inuyasha yesterday…there may be more to this girl than I first thought.' And with that his thoughts were cut off as the teacher entered the room and class began.

~*~*~*~

The day went by far too quickly for Kagome. She knew she'd have to explain about her eye to Sango and had a feeling that Sango wouldn't go for the 'I ran into a door' clumsy routine. As Kagome made her way down the hall towards the back of the school where the practice fields were she became lost in her thoughts. 'I just got here…I'm still settling in….I don't have anywhere else to go…I can NOT run away.'

Reaching the practice fields bleachers, Kagome tossed her bag down and made herself comfortable to watch the field hockey team practice. She caught Sango's eye only to see her new friend give her a look of concern combined with suspicion. With a sigh of resolution Kagome decided that without Hojo around she would need a friend that she could be honest with…but was she ready for Sango to be that friend? "Higurashi Kagome?" A voice called from beside the bleachers.

"Yes?" Kagome answered as she turned to her left. She was taken aback for a moment by her addresser's handsome appearance. He was about as tall as Sesshoumaru with long back hair that rippled and waved pulled back in a ponytail. His skin was pale, smooth, and flawless and red eyes drew her attention. Despite his handsome face and seemingly polite smile, there was something about this person that made her uneasy as adrenaline started to course through her veins encouraging her to run from the unknown danger present. But with a pounding heart she put on a smile and asked, "May I help you?"

"I wanted to introduce myself. I am Naraku Oni. I saw you yesterday, but let my shyness get the better of me. You're quite beautiful and I was wondering if you'd like to see a movie sometime?" The smile he wore was charming, but Kagome was paying attention to his eyes which portrayed a cold and calculating person.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not interested in someone who only wants to date me because they like the way I look." That said, she turned back to watch Sango practice. 'Please leave, please leave, please leave…'

"While it was your face that drew my attention, I'm sure you have a beautiful personality to match."

'Damn it…' she thought. He was very eloquent, but her turning stomach told her otherwise. "I…I—" She wasn't sure what to say to get him to leave without being too rude. Then suddenly a deep growl sounded to her right. When Kagome turned towards the menacing sound she found Koga standing on the bleachers next to her in his track uniform growling, fangs bared, and tail bristled and twitching irritably. "Koga?"

"Get lost Naraku!" Koga barked, "Can't you tell she's not interested?"

"Ahh Koga, are you interested too?" Naraku questioned.

Koga's growling became louder and more threatening. "Leave before I make you!"

"Fine, I can see when I'm not wanted. I'll see you another time Kagome." He said with a smirk and a bow.

Kagome watched his back as he walked away until he rounded a corner. Letting out a nervous sigh she'd been holding back, she turned towards Koga and gave him a thankful smile as he sat down beside her. "Thanks, I'm not sure how much longer I could have been around him. What's wrong with him anyway?"

"That's just how Naraku is. Listen Kagome…stay away from him okay? Naraku only uses people for his own benefit as long as he can, and then those people have a tendency to go missing later."

"What? There's no way I would date that guy or anything, but missing? The police would have done something about that by now if it's as common knowledge as you make it sound."

"There have been investigations, but nothing's ever been proven so none of the charges ever stick. I like you Kagome, so just promise me that you'll try to stay away from him, alright?"

Koga didn't seem like the type to be serious very often, but this seemed important to him. "Okay Koga, I promise."

"Good," and just like that Koga seemed to be back to his cocky, playful self. "So I heard that mutt-face asked you out? Too bad…it looks like he beat me to the punch."

"I'm flattered that you like me Koga, but you're just not my type."

"Well what is your 'type'? Maybe I'm your dream guy and you just don't know it yet." He questioned as he grabbed her hand and leaned much closer to Kagome causing her to blush. But with a sudden yelp he was up on his feet and grabbing his precious tail to nurse the injured appendage.

Kagome looked up to see Sango standing with her field hockey stick in hand. "You don't waste any time do you? Go home and stop harassing girls, you flirt!" As Koga walked away with his injured pride and tail, Sango turned to Kagome and offered her a hand up as she said, "I swear if he was a little more touchy-feely he'd be as bad as Miroku."

Kagome laughed at this and smiled back at her friend. "Thanks for the rescue. It's a little hard to get used to…I wasn't this popular with the guys back home."

Sango looked at her like she was crazy. "I find that hard to believe. Have you looked in a mirror?"

Kagome picked up her bag as she and Sango started their walk home. "I was told by some friends that it was because most of the guys found me…'intimidating' is the word they used, I think." She said with a laugh.

"Well you'll find that the male population around here is a little harder to intimidate. Most of the male demons are cocky and headstrong and most of the human guys try to act the same so that they don't get their fragile little ego's trampled on!"

Both girls continued to talk and laugh and Kagome thought she was in the clear until a heavy silence fell on them and she knew what was coming next. "Kagome…about your eye…what happened?? We may not have known each other very long, but I'm still your friend and I care."

"I know, Sango…I just wanted to start over and didn't want anyone to find out the whole reason my brother and I came here."

"Look, I can't make you tell me, but I want you to know that I'm worried. I've had plenty of sports related injuries and I know what it looks like when someone gets hit."

"If I tell you, you can't tell anyone. Not Miroku or Koga…not Inuyasha…"

"Okay, it'll stay strictly between us."

With a steadying breath, Kagome started, "Our dad died not very long after Souta was born. Things were hard for our mom, emotionally and financially. She tried dating a little, but she would always compare them to our dad and nothing ever lasted…until she brought home Mikaru. Apparently she saw something in him that nobody else saw. He was always kind and polite in front of Mama, but everyone has two sides to their personality, you know? He didn't want kids and wanted to get rid of Souta and me by sending us to boarding schools. Luckily or not-so-luckily Mama wouldn't hear anything about it. At the very least, if we had been at boarding school we wouldn't have seen as much of his cruel side. If we stepped out of line in the slightest or he just had a bad day Souta and I became his personal anger release system. There was always the verbal abuse when Mama wasn't around or listening, but sometimes there would be beatings. Both of us had our fair share of bruises, cuts, and broken bones…the last straw was when I came home late the night before making the move to Tokyo. He hit me a few times and even threatened to kill me. That's where I got the black eye…"

"It sounds like you mom loved you though…she had to have known about all of this."

"I don't blame her. Like I said, things were hard for her with a little girl and an infant. I think she just needed someone else to help lighten the load a little. She was desperate and I think she started turning a blind eye and a deaf ear…"

Sango watched as Kagome's eyes got a far away look too them and felt bad for the girl. Then suddenly, without thinking, Sango reached over and wrapped her arms around Kagome and said, "I'm sorry. You must be a very strong person Kagome…you and your brother both. Not just anyone can go through something like that and still be able to smile, make friends, and have fun like you used to."

Kagome let her chin rest on Sango's shoulder as she felt a little guilty about the praise she was getting. "Yeah…like I used to…" Straightening herself and putting on a smile, Kagome grabbed Sango's hand and said, "Well…let's go get Kohaku and get to the shrine. The boys have some video games that need playing and we have some furniture that needs moving!"

~*~*~*~

Kagome slid the door to their home open and said "Make yourselves at home. Kohaku, I think Souta should be in the TV room planted in front of one of his games. It's right through that door."

"Okay Miss Kagome, thanks for inviting me over." Kohaku answered in his soft, timid voice. Kagome found out that he was actually very shy and sensitive for a boy his age.

"For the fifth time today, call me Kagome. And you're welcome over here anytime and the same goes for you Sango." Kagome was happy to have made a friend with a brother the same age as Souta. She knew it was hard for him to leave his friends behind like he did, but maybe now things would be easier for him.

"Kagome, could you come help me for a moment??" Their grandfather called from the back of the house.

"I'll be right back, just make yourself comfortable and I'll show you where my room is in a little bit." Kagome called to Sango as she ran off to find the old man.

Sango was looking around the living room when a little boy she could only guess to be Souta came running from the room Kohaku had gone into asking what snacks he should get from the kitchen. He was almost through the living room when he noticed her standing there. "Hello, you must be Souta. I'm your sister's friend, Sango."

"Hi, I'm not sure how long Kagome will be helping Gramps but I can show you where her room is and you can wait there. You'd probably be more comfortable there anyway. C'mon, it's this way." Souta said as he started up the stairs.

Sango followed the young boy up the stairs and saw him waiting for her by a door. "This is her room. She should be back in a few minutes. Do you want anything to drink while you wait?"

"No thanks, you can go back to playing with Kohaku or whatever you two were doing." And as she watched Kagome's brother make his way back down the stairs she turned the door knob and entered Kagome's room. The first thing she noticed was the full length mirror by the dresser and then the few boxes in the corner that hadn't been unpacked. But what caught her eye the most were the shelves that were completely covered with trophies, ribbons, and medals. Walking closer Sango could see that many of them had Kagome's name on them and all of them were from karaoke contests or talent shows. It was a very impressive collection.

"Yeah…I didn't get a chance to hide those this morning…I was hoping that nobody here would find out about that little hobby." Kagome said from the doorway as she watched Sango admire a passion past.

Sango turned around to look at her friend. "Why wouldn't you want to tell someone about this?? I'm in a band Kagome. I know people from other bands. I know a lot of singers. But I have NEVER seen one of them with an award collection this big!"

"Not even Sesshoumaru??"

Sango just stopped and raised an eyebrow to the posed question. "Kagome…I know you just met the guy, but does he really seem like the type to enter a talent competition?? He sings with the band only…never solo unless he's practicing."

"I guess you're right. But it doesn't matter now. I don't sing anymore, so let's start moving this stuff around and we'll get something to eat when we're done, okay?"

"Wait, wait, wait…you don't sing anymore?? Why not? With this collection you have to have some talent!"

"Most of those are from karaoke and you don't have to have any kind of talent for that…they're nothing but false achievements."

"Bullshit…why don't you sing anymore?"

"You were wrong earlier when you said I was strong. Mikaru may have been an ass, but he did have a point that I wasn't going anywhere with my singing and I never would. That's why I gave it up and I'm going to focus on getting a realistic career."

"Kagome…the radio station Miroku works for showcases local artists if they're good enough. Why not go audition?? I'm sure they're put you on air."

Kagome smiled a small, sad smile and said, "Sango you've never even heard me. There's no way you could know that. I don't want to go through the humiliation and rejection. I don't want to waste anymore time on a dead end dream. I just want to move on and do something else, okay?"

To Sango, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince her. "Sure…I understand. So what do you want to move where?" She asked with a smile, hoping to change the subject for the moment.

~*~*~*~

"And when she was little, she was so precious in little traditional miko garbs. Looking at her now, you would never guess that she's of holy descent—"

"Gramps!!" Kagome yelled. "Excuse me if you don't like the way I dress, but I really don't think that's something you should say in front of guests!"

Sango and the two boys were busy trying to hide their giggles as Kagome fumed and their grandfather pouted. "But Kagome, a lady of your standing should dress more conservatively. You show far too much skin for a holy woman…" Grandpa argued.

"For the hundredth time since we got here, I'm NOT a holy woman. I haven't been trained, my powers have probably withered away by now, and monks and mikos aren't exactly needed like they were a few centuries ago." This was one argument that Kagome was sure she would have many more times while she lived at the shrine.

"And I've told you that your powers haven't gone anywhere, they're just untrained! I fully intend on you taking over the shrine for me one day—"

"And you had planned on asking me this…WHEN???"

"It should go without saying! You are the oldest child of my oldest child and your oldest child will take over the shrine from you one day."

Kagome merely groaned as she let her head fall against the table. "You know what gramps? Fine. You win. If you train me and my powers haven't shriveled up by now then I'll take over the shrine."

"Oh Kagome!" he shouted, "You've made the happiest old man in the world!"

At this point the other three that had been trying to sit quietly started to laugh, unable to hold it back anymore. "Well…I'm glad you three are enjoying this," Kagome said from her current position on the table. She then turned to her grandfather and in one final point to the conversation said, "But I am NOT changing the way I dress!"

~*~*~*~

AN: I know what some of you are thinking: "Holy crap! She's not dead?!" nope…not dead…thankfully. But as for where I've been, it's been a few different things. Some headaches, dizzy spells, and blackouts had my mom sending me to the doctor where I was told that it was a possibility that I had brain tumors…that was a fun day. But several MRI's, blood tests, and other crap later it was determined that I do NOT have tumors (THAT was a good day ^_^). But they still don't know what the hell is wrong soooo….yeah. And then the other hold up is that to post my stories I have to save them to a flash drive and upload them to a different computer and all that cause I didn't have internet access on my laptop which is where I write, but all of that has changed because I FINALLY nagged my dad into coming out to my house and setting up a wireless system for me ^_^ NOTE: if you haven't caught on, if you don't want to hear about my truly pathetic life, don't read my AN's. I'll put something at the beginning of the story if it's REALLY important and actually pertaining to the story ^_^


	7. The Show

AN: Uhhhh…okay, I know some of you guys who have been waiting for this to update for almost a year are going to hate me for this, but I was looking through what I had posted on my stories and realized that I never posted this chapter even though it's been written for a LONG time. I'm so sorry!! I honestly thought I had posted it…Anyway, sorry for the crazy long delay. The chapter after this is already half-written so maybe it'll be out soon as well. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize (characters, songs, etc…)

~*~*~*~

Chapter 7: The Show

The rest of the week went by smoothly. Kagome was finding her routine and falling into her new life with ease. She would walk to school with Sango and on days that everyone or most of the band was free they would have practice. On the days that the sports teams practiced and Miroku had to work they would take breaks and Kagome would watch Sango and Koga practice then walk home with Sango and usually study and do homework together. They hadn't even made any kind of plans yet, but the rumors that Kagome and Inuyasha were a couple were already flying along with a few scattered and ridiculous rumors that she was talking to Koga on the side and even Naraku. 'That damn day on the bleachers…it's the only way anyone could even think of something like that.' Kagome thought as she heard more whispers with her name being said multiple times.

Being at the Taisho household had shown Kagome a few things. The first being that Sesshoumaru held some kind of bitterness towards most humans and demons…except for Rin of course. The second was that Inuyasha's mother was very much like her own mother and Kagome found her presence and conversation comforting. And the last was that Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father had desperately wanted a daughter of his own to spoil. He doted on Rin at every opportunity and even on Kagome the more she was around. He was very much like her father who she missed greatly.

Sesshoumaru pushed the band at an almost grueling pace, demanding nothing less than perfection. Kagome sat on the couch the days that they practiced and watched as they prepared two songs in one week for their show on Saturday. Kagome wondered how many songs they knew.

Saturday arrived and noon found Kagome sitting at the top of the shrine steps waiting for Hojo. She was eager to see one of her best friends and of course it was the first day of the entire week that every minute felt like an hour. She'd been sitting on the steps for at least thirty minutes tapping her feet anxiously and watching each taxi that went by wondering which one would stop in front of the shrine. She had talked to him the night before and apparently Shippo wouldn't be coming with him because he was grounded for using his magic in school. Kagome had been disappointed at not being able to see her little fluff ball at first but then thought it better since they were going to watch the band later and Shippo was too young to go to places like that.

Kagome watched an approaching taxi and nearly squealed when it stopped in front of the shrine. Seeing a head of straight, brown hair appear, Kagome ran down the remainder of the steps in time to tackle Hojo once he finally stood up and stretched. He easily caught her and spun her around as she laughed and hugged him. "It's good to see you too Kagome." He greeted.

After paying for the ride, Kagome drug Hojo up the steps that she was steadily growing used to again so that she could introduce him to her grandfather and show him the shrine. Of course Hojo being the respectful and polite young man that he was, her grandfather took an instant liking to him and wanted to know if he would consider marrying Kagome…which he was promptly scolded for.

Kagome showed Hojo around the grounds telling him some of the stories that she grew up with and was in one of the more relaxed moods she'd been in since arriving. Her new friends were fun and welcoming, but nothing could beat a long and well developed relationship. Knowing that the band was most likely rehearsing to get ready for the show later in the evening, Kagome decided that instead of introducing everyone she would take Hojo to lunch and then show him some of the local shops and attractions.

As slowly as time had passed before Hojo got there, it seemed like a cruel trick of the gods when it seemed to fast forward after he arrived. Before Kagome knew it, it was already eight o'clock and decided that it was time to go home and get ready for the show. Inuyasha had told her that the band was going on at nine and had a thirty minute set. Hojo stood outside the door of Kagome's room while she got dressed so that they could talk as she got ready. "I'm glad to hear that things are going better for you here, Kagome. You and Souta deserve to be happy after all you went through. So what are these new friends of yours like?"

"Well," Kagome started, "there's Sango who…well there's no other way to describe her but tough. But she's also really nice and has a younger brother Souta's age. She takes care of him and they live by themselves because they lost their parents in a hit and run."

"She sounds a little like you…always taking care of her brother when your parents aren't around."

"And then there's Miroku…he's…well he's a pervert, but an awesome DJ. He has a serious side even though you don't see it very often."

"A pervert?"

"Yeah, but he's harmless. Let's see…and then there's Koga. He's a wolf youkai. He's really flirty and pretty full of himself, but he's harmless too. He's one of the big sports stars at school."

"You're hanging out with jocks now? What's the world coming to?" Hojo teased.

"Hey! He's not a bad guy, just a little too…persistent." Kagome said with a laugh. "Now where was I…oh yeah, next there's Inuyasha. He's a hanyou. His mother is human and his dad is a dog demon. He's a little stubborn and seems a little awkward at times, but he's a good guy. And he has the cutest little dog ears on top of his head!"

"Dog ears? That should be interesting to see."

"No teasing him! He can get a little sensitive about that. And he has a bit of a short fuse sometimes."

"Alright, alright, no teasing. So is there anybody else I should know about?"

"Well…there is Sesshoumaru, the big jerk. He's Inuyasha's half-brother, a full blooded dog demon. He thinks that makes him so much better than his brother, and everyone else for that matter, but he's just a big, rude, arrogant, jerk!"

"You already said jerk."

Kagome flung her door open and said "Well then he's a double-jerk!"

Hojo took a step back from the outburst and took in what Kagome had changed into. She was now wearing a black pleated skirt that buttoned up the side along with a black turtleneck, black combat boots that came up her calves, and a dark green military-style jacket that was unbuttoned. She had left her long hair down, but pulled the top layer back in a loose clip to keep it out of her face. With her classic grey and black eye shadow and a new shade of red on her lips, Hojo couldn't help but appreciate her beauty. "Are we trying to impress someone??"

A blush instantly covered Kagome's face as she stuck her tongue out at him and asked, "What time is it?"

"Let's see, it's…five till nine. You are the prime example of where the stigma for guys waiting on girls to get ready came from."

"What?! I'll pretend to not have heard that remark, but we have to go NOW! We're going to miss them!" Grabbing her bag and Hojo's hand, Kagome ran down the stairs and yelled for anyone in the house to hear that she would be back later. Then she and Hojo made it down the shrine steps and hailed a taxi to take them to the club.

~*~*~*~

When they arrived at the club there luckily wasn't a long line, so Kagome paid their cover charge and pulled Hojo inside being very careful not to lose his hand and become separated. Kagome heard Miroku's voice come on over the speakers.

"Well folks, with our set coming to a close we have one more song for you. It's a new one so let us know what you think after!" Then there was cheering and the lights focused on the stage began to brighten. Not wanting to miss the last song of the night, Kagome pushed her way through the people and to the edge of the stage with Hojo standing right next to her.

The music started and Sesshoumaru looked over the crowd of dark faces below him.

You walk on like a woman in suffering  
Won't even bother now to tell me why  
You come alone, letting all of us savor the moment  
Leaving me broken another time  
You come on like a bloodstained hurricane  
Leave me alone, let me be this time  
You carry on like a holy man pushing redemption  
I don't want to mention, the reason I know

That I am stricken and can't let you go  
When the heart is cold, there's no hope, and we know  
That I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss will I run

Suddenly the light caught the face of someone near the stage and Sesshoumaru felt an unfamiliar tightening in his chest and stomach.

You don't know what your power has done to me  
I want to know if I'll heal inside  
I can't go on with a holocaust about to happen  
Seeing you laughing another time  
You'll never know how your face has haunted me  
My very soul has to bleed this time  
Another hole in the wall of my inner defenses  
Leaving me breathless, the reason I know

That I am stricken and can't let you go  
When the heart is cold, there's no hope, and we know  
That I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss will I run

Into the abyss will I run

It was the face of a beautiful woman. The stage lights bringing out the smoothness of her pale skin and the shine of her red lipstick. Her eyes were deep and dark and transfixing. That's when the dark and sparkling eyes of the young woman made contact with his and Sesshoumaru realized who the woman was. 'That human girl. It's amazing what strategically placed lights can do, I suppose…'

You walk on like a woman in suffering  
Won't even bother now to tell me why  
You come alone, letting all of us savor the moment  
Leaving me broken another time  
You come on like a bloodstained hurricane  
Leave me alone, let me be this time  
You carry on like a holy man pushing redemption  
I don't want to mention, the reason I know

That I am stricken and can't let you go  
When the heart is cold, there's no hope, and we know  
That I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss will I run

Into the abyss will I run  
I can't let you go  
Yes I am stricken and can't let you go

As the song ended and the stage lights faded, Kagome could see the silhouettes of the band make their way off stage with their equipment. She turned to Hojo with excitement in her eyes and asked, "Aren't they great?! What did you think?"

Hojo could only smile back at her as he said, "You were right, they're very good." But he felt his heart sink a little bit because when he remembered that, despite her love for music, she would never be the one on stage in front of a microphone and applauding audience.

"C'mon! Sango said that she would get us in backstage." Kagome said as she grabbed Hojo's hand to drag him off yet again. Making her way to the stage door, Kagome was stopped by a bouncer standing guard.

"Keep moving," he said in a deep voice, "no fans allowed backstage."

"I'm not a fan! I'm a friend. Go check with Inuyasha Taisho, he'll tell you!"

"Kagome?" Kagome turned around and came face to face with Miroku carrying several drinks.

"Miroku! Tell him that I know you guys!"

Miroku smiled as he stepped past her and looked up to the bouncer to say, "It's okay, she's not one of Sesshoumaru's crazy fangirls. Let her in." And like that the door was opened and Miroku followed by Kagome and Hojo walked through the doorway and into a dark hall. "I'm glad you could make it, Kagome."

"Me too! We only made it in time for the last song though…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure everyone will be glad to see you." Miroku said. Then turning to Hojo and adjusting his hold on the drinks, he offered his hand and greeted, "You must be the famous Hojo we've been hearing about."

"Yes, and you must be…Miroku?"

"It's a pleasure. And what has the lovely Kagome said about me?" Miroku said with one of his goofy grins.

"Well…she told me that you're a wonderful DJ—"

"And a total perv." Kagome cut in.

"Why Kagome! I'm hurt!" Miroku said with a laugh as he showed them to another door at the end of the hall. Walking through, they were met with laughter. "Look who I found!" Miroku called to his band mates.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha said as he got off the couch where he had been wrestling with Koga. "You made it!"

"Of course I did. I may have been a little late, but I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Kagome said as she smiled up at Inuyasha, making him blush. "Oh! Everyone, this is Hojo—Hojo, this is everyone! There's Miroku who you've already met, and then there's Inuyasha, Sango, Koga, and Sesshoumaru." She introduced pointing to each person. "So what are you guys doing now?"

"Well, we usually hang out here for a while, have some drinks, dance a little, then get paid and go home." Inuyasha said.

"Sounds like a plan." Kagome said as she looked up at Inuyasha. "Wanna go dance with me?"

"Ummm—" Inuyasha stuttered.

"I'll dance with her if you don't want to, Inuyasha." Koga said as he walked up behind Kagome, put his hands on her hips, and pulled her against his chest. Seeing Kagome's blush and nervous look caused Inuyasha to snap out of his stupor.

"Feh, whatever wolf-boy! C'mon Kagome…" Inuyasha said as he pulled her away from Koga and down the hallway she'd just come from.

Backstage with the rest of the band, Sango looked over at Hojo and decided to follow through with her plan. "Hojo, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked as she pulled him into the hall and away from demonic hearing. "I was at Kagome's and saw all of those trophies she has. She told me about her step-dad and why she stopped singing. I've never heard her, but she can't have all of those and not have SOME talent. I was wondering…are there any recordings of her performing, or of any of the contests she was in?"

Hojo thought for a few minutes and said, "I think I have a CD of one of the shows she was in, but I would have to find it. Why?"

"Well, Miroku works at a radio station that showcases local talent from time to time and if I can get him to hear Kagome, maybe he could convince her to record something to go on air."

"That's a great idea! Once I get home, I'll look for the CD and mail it to you. What's your address??"

~*~*~*~

Inuyasha led Kagome out to the dance floor and they began moving together to the beat as Breathe Carolina* came on over the speakers. ((*I will address this now, if you do not know who Breathe Carolina is…shame on you! My dad described it best: it sounds like someone recorded a rave mix with Rob Zombie playing in the background and it is AWESOME. Look em up! Now back to your regularly scheduled story.)) He watched her as her hips swayed in time with the steady beat and her hair, highlighted by the multi-colored lights above, swished back and forth. Then his breath caught in his chest when she turned and looked up into his eyes. She put her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer to him and they continued to dance with their eyes locked putting them in their own world.

As the song they were dancing to faded into the next, Inuyasha leaned his head down and kissed the raven haired beauty in front of him. Kagome was surprised at first, but gradually relaxed into the feeling of his lips on hers.

But unknown to them, on the other side of the room there was a pair of crimson eyes watching the new couple with envy. The owner of said eyes turned to the young woman sitting at his table and in his deep, smooth voice said, "Kagura, call Kikyo and tell her I need to talk to her…tonight."

~*~*~*~

AN: alrighty! well, here we go…lots of little things leading to some big things later on down the road. I can't say exactly how far down the road, but it's coming haha XD I'm in a SUPER good mood today…not sure why but I'm not gonna question it. There is one thing I wanna say before I go though…F*** STEVE JOBS! I hate you…you own a small portion of my SOUL and I hate you for it. You and your freaking half eaten fruit company make some cool stuff, but the software it runs on is SHIT. Really…it wouldn't be that hard…get some programmers who have been out of school for more than a freaking month and let them rewrite, recode, and reformat ALL of your stuff. I know you're trying to take over the world with all of your little "iLife" devices, but if it crashes and wipes all the information from it every few months for NO REASON…well…it's just not gonna happen Stevie-boy. And that's it! ^_^ I'll see you guys in the next chapter!! Let me know what ya think!


	8. A message from your author

A message from your author:

Greetings to all! I wanted to announce my return and give everyone a heads up about the changes that I'm planning. I'm not sure if these sorts of messages are allowed to be posted as chapters, but this notice will be coming down soon.

So here's how it is:

I'm back and intend to take up writing again.

As far as the changes that I'm planning…well, short version, I'm basically going to rewrite or revise all of my chapter stories. If you like them exactly as they are now, I suggest that you save them as documents to your own computer, and I'm sorry that that particular version may remain unfinished. They will come down and/or be replaced. I estimate that these changes are going to start in the next couple of days, but I'm not sure what story they will happen to first.

If you would like a more detailed account of why I will be changing them or what kinds of changes I will be making to the individual stories, I put it all on my profile page.

I thank you for reading my works in the past, and I hope you'll stick around for the new and improved versions that will be coming soon.

All the best,  
ConsistentlyInconsistent


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